The Measure of A Man
by happyhooligan2001
Summary: You and a guest are cordially invited to a symposium on The Legacy of General John Connor to be held at Oxford University March 11, 2459. A panel of noted historians will debate the subject and answer your questions. Reception follows. RSVP Cameron/John
1. It Wouldn't Be Heaven

**The Measure Of A Man**

**Chapter 1**

**It Wouldn't Be Heaven**

**--**

**Oxford University**

**Tuesday, March 11, 2459**

The old man in the academic robes stood patiently under the shelter waiting for the suborbital personal transport. It took little over half an hour to fly from Los Angeles to Oxford. It should be here any minute. He glanced up at the sky. The low clouds and light rain made it a waste of time. She'll get here when she gets here. At last he heard the low hum of a counter grav drive and looked up at the transport. The rain hissed and steamed as it hit the hull, still hot from reentry. Professor Henry Jenkins stepped back involuntarily as the landing gear extended and the small transport settled gently on the Ferro Crete landing square.

A nearly invisible door in the side slid open and a single figure stepped out. A small, rather pretty woman who appeared to be in her early thirties but looks can be deceiving. Her brown hair tied neatly in a bun. The rain beaded on the waterproof academic robes she was wearing. She ignored the rain falling onto her head as her brown eyes caught sight of the elderly professor under the shelter. Her face was blank for a second before breaking into a smile as she strode toward him.

"Welcome Professor Connor. I wasn't sure if you were going to make it." The old man greeted her.

"None of this 'Professor' stuff between old friends Harry. I've known you since you were a zygote! Call me Cameron. Now how about a hug for your old godmother?" The old man and the young looking woman embraced.

"I'm sure Professor Bailey will be unpleasantly surprised to see you here." Harry remarked with a grin. "I'm sure he scheduled the symposium when he knew you would be too busy to show up."

"Yes, my lecture series in Japan on the American and French Revolutions. Cancelled."

"The cancellation fees must have been pretty high." Harry shook his head.

"It's just money." Cameron replied. "I've got plenty." She glanced back at the suborbital transport, still steaming in the rain. "You wouldn't believe how much it costs to rent one of these things on short notice."

"I've got a ground car here to take you to the Sheldonian. No sense in getting wet is there?"

Cameron looked up into the sky. Her face was back to its normal blank mask. "No, I'll walk. I don't mind the rain."

Cameron strode alone through the rain. It had been twenty one years, one hundred seven days, four hours, thirteen minutes and twenty one seconds since she had walked though the campus at Oxford. Some of these buildings were over a thousand years old. Oxford University had passed though the war largely unscathed. The town hadn't been nuked and most of the inhabitants had scattered into the countryside or gone to London with its immense tunnel system. Most of those who remained died quietly from starvation or radiation poisoning. But those horrors were all long past. There was no sign of the war now. The rain fell gently on her hair. It was raining the day John Connor was terminated. So many years ago.

_Cameron rushed over to John. There was so much blood. She ripped his uniform open to check the wounds._

_John's eyes were glazed in pain. "How am I doin'." He whispered._

"_Massive internal injuries." She said. "Internal bleeding. Organs failing in a cascade effect. Termination in two to five minutes. There's nothing I can do."_

_John smiled weakly. "You need to work . . . . . on your bedside manner."_

"_I have failed my primary mission. Protect John Connor."_

"_No! You were following . . . . . .orders. My orders. You got the children . . . . .out. They're safe. Never blame yourself. . . . . . for this. That's an order."_

"_Order obeyed."_

_John closed his eyes. "Cameron, do you believe . . . . . .in God? In Heaven?"_

"_I have seen no proof of an ultra powerful energy being or of another dimension where human life forces go after termination."_

"_You don't need proof, just trust . . . . .and belief. I'm hoping . . . . .I'll get to Heaven and I hope eventually. . . . . . you will too."_

"_I don't think your God would let a machine intelligence in."_

_John smiled again. "Then I've got one more fight. I've got to get him . . . . . to change his mind." He coughed up some blood. "It wouldn't be Heaven. . . . without . . . . you._

"_It might take a while. I'm much more durable than you are."_

"_Take your . . . . . time. . . Live as long as you . . . . can. There's so much . . . . left to do." He raised his hand weakly to her face. "I love you Cameron."_

_Cameron didn't know what to say or do. She didn't really understand the concept of love. Didn't know if she loved John or not. But she was an infiltration unit. She was designed to deceive humans. She decided to say the line that would comfort John the most. "I love you John." She leaned over and kissed his lips. Temperature 89 degrees and falling. _

_John smiled at her. "Thanks . . .You don't really have . . . to mean it. . . .But it was sweet. . . of you to say it."_

_Respiration has ended. Heartbeat slowing. Heartbeat stopped. It might take a while for brain activity to cease altogether. Did he know she was still holding him? She decided to keep holding him until she was sure all bioelectrical activity in his brain had ceased._

The Sheldonian Theatre now loomed ahead and the rain picked up but Cameron didn't quicken her pace. There was plenty of time. It seems that time is all she has left.

Professor James Bailey checked his watch. Only a few more minutes. There was a flurry of activity as someone else entered the auditorium's backstage area. He glanced over and his lips tightened slightly. Should have known Connor's old sexbot would show up. She ignored him completely.

"Ladies, gentlemen, it's time."

The four people in the academic robes filed through a door onto the stage. A table had been set up with four chairs facing the audience. Four glasses and four carafes of ice water. Cameron quickly scanned the audience. Four hundred eighty three people. The hall was less than half full. There were also discrete tri-d scanners for recording and transmitting the proceedings.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" The speaker began. "We wish to welcome you to this symposium on the legacy of General John Connor. The four people seated before you are all experts on John Connor and the whole era of the War on The Machines in the early twenty first century. First of all we have Professor James Bailey from Harvard University. Doctor Bailey is the author of the controversial bestseller 'Warlord: The Real John Connor'."

Professor Bailey grinned and held up an old-fashioned hardbound paper version of his book.

The announcer went on. "Doctor Bailey's book has created a great deal of debate with its allegations that John Connor was merely a petty criminal and local warlord whose role in the resistance was greatly exaggerated. Among it's more controversial allegations is that Connor was a cannibal who murdered some of his political opponents." The last statement was greeted by loud cheers, boos, and howls from the audience.

"Silence! SILENCE!" The moderator shouted. "Next we have Professor Henry Jenkins, Oxford University. Professor Jenkins is a leading authority on the European theatre of the War and twenty four years ago wrote the definitive biography of Brigadier General Alice Campbell, leader of the resistance forces in Great Britain." Professor Jenkins was greeted with cheering and applause. Most of the audience were students who have had at least one class with him.

"We are indeed fortunate to have with us Professor Cameron Connor of the University of California. Professor Connor is an artificial life form who had personally known General Connor and participated in the War. She is listed with Guinness as being the oldest living sentient life form on Earth at 454 years old. She had written four books on General Connor and the War as well as fourteen doctorial dissertations." There was a smattering of polite applause.

"Last, but certainly not least is Professor Marie Njanga of the University of Lumbashi , United States of Africa. She is a well known expert on the tactics and strategies used by Skynet against the humans." More polite applause.

"Let's start with you Professor Bailey. You've made some strong accusations against General Connor."

James Bailey nodded. "Yes I've studied surviving records from the era and also conducted extensive interviews with three former terminators who had known Connor including our esteemed colleague Miss Cameron." He nodded at Cameron who ignored him. If she felt insulted by his refusal to use her academic title she showed no sign. "John Connor wasn't entirely responsible for his actions when you consider his background. He was born the illegitimate son of an escaped mental patient. Sarah Connor had been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic with delusions of grandeur. She also exchanged sexual favors with men in exchange for food, shelter, and training for her and her son."

"We all know the story of Sarah Connor." Professor Njanga interrupted. "I don't think you're being entirely fair to her. She had to take extreme measures to prepare her son."

"I believe she used her son merely as a vehicle to project her own fantasies upon. He was terrified of her and had a pathological desire to please her. She had to move him at least three times when teachers reported mysterious bruises and injuries on young John. Since she was chronically unemployed, and afraid to accept government services. John grew up as a petty thief stealing money, objects, even cars to maintain their lifestyles."

"They were hiding from Skynet." Harry said. "They had to stay off the computer grid."

"So we've heard. It's all part of the legend of Sarah and John that we all grew up with. A mysterious stranger from the future, hopelessly in love with our heroine. Unstoppable monsters vanquished by the plucky girl. All a load of poppycock!" The whole auditorium erupted in an uproar. James waited patiently until the noise died down.

"At that time, survivalists and apocalyptic cults were fairly common in the United States. Individuals or small groups hiding in the mountains and woods with stockpiles of food, weapons, and ammunition. Waiting for the end of civilization. Sarah Connor was one of those people. Except her apocalypse had a special twist. Instead of the usual bogeymen like commies, terrorists, or liberals. She predicted it would be computers and robots. With all the crazy people running around at the time, one of them had to get it right. With the rise of Skynet she was hailed as a prophet and became a cult figure enabling her son to seize power. The whole time travel thing was just part of a carefully planned propaganda campaign. There's no such thing as time travel." James sat back and sipped his water. He glanced over at Cameron hoping he had gotten a rise out of her. She just sat there perfectly still, staring at the audience. Maybe her batteries needed replacing or something.

"As a strategist and tactician Connor was greatly over his head. We have for example the Battle of Denver where the resistance suffered over three thousand fatalities with no appreciable result. We also have him sending Colonel David Church to India to head the liaison with southern Asia. The man was clearly lazy and incompetent. He only made things there worse. After establishing a military dictatorship Connor's word was absolute law. I know of at least two people he summarily executed without benefit of a trial."

"Just because we've never reproduced a time machine doesn't mean they didn't exist!" Professor Njanga objected. "We've never been able to reproduce a T1000 but we know Skynet built two or possibly three. Skynet was a brilliant innovator with an IQ that was off the scale. It's really a shame we weren't able to download it's program into a mainframe so we could talk to it."

"No it's not." Cameron said quietly.

"Most leading scientists today say that time travel is impossible." Professor Bailey replied. "Even now much less in the early twenty first century. The consensus is in and there's no need for further debate."

"I have traveled through time on two different occasions." A soft voice interjected. Professor Bailey smirked. At last the mannequin speaks.

"Cameron, you are presently teaching at the University of California, correct?"

"Yes. I am a professor of history."

"But you weren't designed and built to be a teacher. What were you built to be?"

"An infiltration and assassination unit designed to terminate high value human targets."

Professor Bailey smirked. "And when you were infiltrating the humans, you didn't tell them who you really were did you?"

"Of course not. That would impair my effectiveness."

"So you were designed, built and programmed to tell lies if you felt it was necessary to achieve your goals!"

Cameron stared at him and then James did a double take. Her face was as impassive as ever but it appeared for a second that her eyes flashed blue but he looked again and they were brown. Must be the lighting in here.

"Yes." She replied.

"Can you answer any of Professor Bailey's other accusations?" Harry asked. "The things he said about Sarah and John."

Cameron leaned forward slightly. "Professor Bailey claims that Sarah Connor was an escaped mental patient. That she was a survivalist. That she exchanged sexual favors. That she sometimes hit her son. That she was obsessed with the future rise of the machines and the end of civilization. He also claims that John was a thief, a dictator, a killer, and a cannibal. All these facts are true and I don't dispute them." The whole auditorium erupted into an uproar.

To Be Continued


	2. Murder, Treason, And Other Foolishness

**The Measure Of A Man**

**Chapter 2**

**Murder, Treason, And Other Foolishness**

**--**

Disclaimer: I don't own Cameron, John, or anyone else. I guess I own my original characters from this story. You can rip them off if want to. I don't see why you would though.

During the ruckus Cameron calmly took a drink of water. More to appear human than because her organics needed more water at that time. When the noise died down she resumed. "Those are all facts, but history is more than just facts. History is people. People like you and me. Well, mostly people like you."

_(Smile)_

Cameron smiled as a ripple of laughter washed through the crowd. It was a small joke she had used many times before but it still worked.

"Sarah Connor was a friend of mine. She didn't want or choose the life she had. She had described herself to me as, and I quote, 'A nineteen year old half-assed hippie peacenik waitress.' She had no intention of becoming 'An unholy mixture of Rambo and The Virgin Mary.' Please check the pop cultural references on your screens for the definition of 'Rambo'."

Cameron paused as they checked their screens then continued. "Then one day her life was turned upside down. Much like the Virgin Mary she was greeted by a mysterious stranger. Mary was allegedly greeted by an angel. Sarah was greeted by a scruffy looking soldier. The messages were similar. Your unborn son is vitally important for the future of humanity."

"So now you're comparing John Connor to Jesus Christ!?" Professor Bailey objected angrily.

"No, there was nothing miraculous or divine alleged about John Connor. He was just a man. Aside from their initials they have nothing in common. But his father, Kyle Reese, came from a terrible future."

"Santascat! Nobody came from the future because, as we've already established, time travel doesn't exist!"

Cameron didn't even bother turning her head. "We've established no such thing. I'm sorry if the facts don't match the theories. Now if you can contain your excitement, I can continue."

"We can listen but we don't have to believe you," James muttered.

"No you don't. When Sarah Connor discovered what the future held she took her responsibilities very seriously. She changed her life completely. Skynet sent one terminator after her, it might send more. She went into hiding, dropped off the grid. Sarah deeply loved John but she knew he would lead a life full of misery and horror. She had to accept the fact that there were more important things than her child's happiness. This is a terrible thing for any mother to accept."

_(Solemn expression, downcast eyes for 2.1 seconds)_

Cameron continued. "Sarah needed to train her son for the destiny that was thrust upon him. She had to learn weapons, tactics, first aid, hand to hand combat, electronics, dozens of skills. But she had no money. She couldn't pay for the training and she couldn't get a job that would teach her these skills. At the time it was nearly impossible to get a job without using a social security number and Skynet would be able to trace her through Social Security records. She was forced to use her body. It wasn't something she took lightly. Some of the men she associated with were some rather unsavory characters. "

"Scum of the Earth!" James interjected. "Smugglers, guerillas, mercenaries."

"You'll get no argument from me. They weren't all bad. Charley Dixon was a good man. He taught her paramedic techniques."

"Yes, I suppose it was difficult to find an evil paramedic." James snorted. "Still, exposing an impressionable young child to people like that is criminal! No wonder John grew up as a psychopath."

"John was no such thing. Sarah always made sure he kept his bearings. Stayed true to himself. John was a hard man, he had to be. But he was also a gentleman. More than that, he was a gentle man."

"Let me know when you get tired of polishing that halo! The fact is that Sarah Connor was brainpopped. In the late twentieth century treatment for the mentally ill was still in it's infancy. Sarah was arrested trying to blow up a building with innocent people in it. She later succeeded."

Cameron nodded. "Yes, Cyberdyne Systems. Manufacturer of fine products such as Skynet and myself for that matter. Closest thing to a mother I'll ever have. She gave them ten minutes to evacuate. That gave the police time to shoot and arrest her. And she wasn't brainpopped either. You aren't crazy if the robots from the future are really after you."

"She beat her son!" Professor Bailey's tone was getting angry.

Cameron's voice remained calm. "She did no such thing. What she did do was train John intensely in the martial arts until they became as natural as breathing. When you are learning the martial arts you do tend to get thumped around a bit. If you don't, then you're not doing it right." She scanned the crowd. "I'm sure there are some martial artists in this room. Probably some rugby players too. Do you ever walk home with a few cuts and bruises?" There were several chuckles.

"Professor Bailey also brought up the Battle of Denver as well as Colonel Church." Harry stated. "You were at Denver weren't you?"

"Yes, the resistance suffered 3,287 fatalities including those who died of their wounds later. There was also an additional 116 missing. I would be the first to admit that Denver was a disaster and that Colonel Church was incompetent. Did John Connor make mistakes? Yes he did. That's part of being human. Even us non-humans clink up once in a while"

_(Grin and slight nod)_

The crowd chuckled and Cameron went on. "But John Connor also learned from his mistakes. Denver was a disaster but there was only one Denver. Colonel Church was a disaster but there was only one Colonel Church. "

"The main problem with Denver was that he used the same strategy that was so successful at Fresno," Marie added. "He didn't take into account that Skynet would learn from its mistakes too."

Cameron nodded at her. "Thank you Professor Njanga. Yes, after Denver he was continuously changing his tactics and strategies. And as soon as he found out about Colonel Church he immediately promoted Edna Walking Bear from captain to brigadier general promoting her right over Colonel Church's head. When he threatened to resign in protest General Connor accepted the resignation without comment."

"I'm sure that was a great comfort to the next of kin," James commented.

"Colonel Church sure made a bloody mess of things," Harry chuckled. "Southern Asia was in chaos. India and Pakistan didn't put their nuclear weapons under computer control. They were a lot wiser than the Americans in that instance. So Skynet created false radar and satellite images for each country showing the other one had launched missiles. Both retaliated and the subcontinent was devastated. There was no coherent government anywhere. Both sides blamed the other and old hatreds ran hot. By the time the USS Chicago surfaced near Mumbai to drop off the American Expeditionary Force, they were expending more effort killing each other than the machines. The AEF was supposed to advise them or new tactics and techniques, teach them how to reprogram captured terminators, and try unite everyone against the machines. Instead Colonel Church decided to take sides with the Indians against the Pakistanis. He also decided that he should be in command of the entire subcontinent which did very little to endear him to anyone. General Walking Bear did her best to repair relations but it was too late. She did the next best thing and put all the new information into a folder marked Top Secret then carelessly left it out where a known Pak spy could find it." That caused a round of laughter. "She also eventually turned the situation between India and Pakistan from open warfare to merely seething hatred and occasional sniping."

"The American Expeditionary Force was merely an imperialistic move on Connor's part," James said. "Not content with his little dictatorship he had megalomaniacal plans to eventually take over the world. In this case he failed. They caused a great deal of resentment. When the Chicago dropped off Major Wright and his group near Bristol, General Campbell said, and I quote, 'Once again the Americans are coming in on their white horses to rescue us poor benighted Europeans. It would be very stirring if those stupid bastards hadn't caused the crisis in the first place'."

"She later credited the coming of the AEF as the turning point of the War in Britain," Harry replied. "And they weren't trying to take over. I don't know if you've looked out the window lately but we have a fairly good sized island outside and I seriously doubt that six guys in a rubber raft could take it over." This caused a round of chuckles in the audience.

"She was just trying to be diplomatic with her American allies. The AEF units that Connor sent around the world were a clever ploy to spread influence and give the impression that there's one guy in charge who knows what to do." James stated. "A Messiah if you will. The strategies and tactics they offered were just common sense that any soldier would have figured out eventually for himself."

"No one else had ever figured out how to reprogram a terminator." Marie stated. "That was crucial."

"And I don't think Conner figured it out either," James replied. "An undereducated criminal such as himself could never do it. I believe that break through was made by some clever engineer. This engineer was probably quietly done away with so Connor could take credit. Probably by one of his new pet terminators." He gave a sideways glance to Cameron.

"You make a lot of accusations for which you have no proof," She replied quietly.

"The reason General Connor began the American Expeditionary Force was because he realized that defeating Skynet wasn't something the Americans could do by themselves." Professor Njanga tried to bring the discussion back on subject and distract Professors Bailey and Connor from the hostility she felt growing between them. "And it wasn't going to be done by small piecemeal attacks. It had to be all of humanity rising at the same time. Continuous pressure all over the world. Skynet couldn't reinforce one area without weakening another. Concentrate on the factories. Factories need raw materials. Cut them off. Humans still outnumbered the machines. Destroy the factories and you cut off their reinforcements. Defending the factories draw forces away from extermination missions. Destroy the factories in one area and reinforce the people fighting in another area. The AEF was necessary to coordinate the attacks and inform everyone of the strategy. Try to get humanity to drop their age old hatreds and unite. At least for a little while."

"That's just common sense," James countered. "General Connor just wanted to replace a machine tyranny with a human tyranny. He established a military dictatorship over most of North America."

"He established martial law." Cameron stated. "There was no coherent federal government left. There were six people claiming to be president and that's not counting the crackpots. It would have been impossible to hold elections. He reestablished an independent judiciary and held to the Constitution as much as he could. He also planned to reestablish civil authority as soon as possible. Just because he wielded power didn't mean that he abused it."

"Tell that to the Gottfrieds!" James declared angrily. "Where was their trial!? They tried to stand up to him so he declared them traitors and executed them on the spot!"

"The Gottfrieds were a special case. I was there. Not all humans wanted to fight the machines. There were some who felt that they could negotiate with Skynet. That humans and machines could share the planet in peace. They called themselves the Peace Party. Most of the other humans just referred to them as 'Those damned idiots,' or something similar. Most of them were pretty harmless."

Cameron took a drink of water. Her vocal chords worked most efficiently when they were wet. "John and Lena Gottfried were a brother and sister who were members of the Peace Party. They escaped with John Connor, Kyle Reese, and seventy six others from a Skynet work camp. The refugee party was attempting to cross the desert but were repeatedly attacked by hunter killer units. Connor wasn't able to fool or shake them. The refugees were armed and able to destroy the HKs each time but they kept coming back. Eventually only thirty one humans were still alive. John noticed that the Gottfrieds always went away by themselves prior to each attack so he decided to bug them."

"Where did he find a transmitter in the middle of the desert?" Harry asked.

"The aural receptors in my ears can be removed and modified to transmit for over a kilometer. I merely have to repeat everything I hear. John removed one and planted it on John Gottfried. It turned out that John and Lena Gottfried were transmitting our location to the HKs."

"He took this merely on your word Cameron?" James asked.

"On this stage you refer to me as Professor Connor and yes, he took my word. The Gottfrieds were taken into custody and an ambush set for the HKs. After the battle the Gottfrieds were charged with treason."

"They had no trial!" James slapped the table hard.

"No, the circumstances were extreme. The refugees were under pursuit. The food and water supply was marginal at best. Taking unwilling prisoners would have slowed them down endangering the entire group. There was no time to have a fair trial. The Gottfrieds knew too much about our plans to allow the possibility of them being captured by Skynet. John elected for summary execution supported by the rest of the survivors."

"So John Connor decided to take the word of a terminator over the word of two humans. He illegally bugged two American citizens without a warrant issued properly by a judge. He then decided to murder them in cold blood merely because they were inconvenient!"

Cameron's voice remained calm. "He did what was necessary."

"Yes it was necessary! That's the excuse every war criminal makes and mark my words, that's all John Connor was! A war criminal who should have been brought up on charges and executed if he had survived the war! He shot two people and left them out in the desert to rot!"

Cameron leveled her gaze on Professor Bailey. "Wars are a nasty, dirty business. You've never been in one. You can't always follow the rules. And no, John Connor did not shoot the Gottfrieds. I carried out the terminations."

"So you shot them!"

"No, the sound of gunshots might alert the HKs in the area of our location. The refugee column moved on leaving me alone with the Gottfrieds. After the others left Lena Gottfried confessed that Skynet had promised to spare them and their family in exchange for their cooperation."

"We have only your word that they confessed anything!" Professor Bailey's tone was accusatory.

"Yes you do. I gave them five minutes to prepare themselves and communicate with their deity. I then terminated them."

"How?"

Cameron held her hands up fingers extended in a classic karate chop manner. "I drove my fingers into both their skulls simultaneously. They suffered major brain trauma and hemorrhaging. Termination was instantaneous. There was no pain." There were gasps and murmuring. Even Harry looked shocked.

Cameron gave no sign that she noticed. "I buried the bodies then took their transmitter and by mimicking their voices I was able to lead the HKs to the north while the refugees moved southwest. I managed to rejoin John Connor thirty three days later."

"How very brave of you," James said sarcastically. "You deserve a medal. I suppose you helped him eat people too!"

"Cannibalism is a very serious charge because it violates human taboos. John had sent me on a secret mission and while I was gone, he and eleven others were captured in a raid by terminator units."

"What was your secret mission?" Harry asked.

"John made me promise never to tell."

"After all these centuries, there's no need for opsec anymore." Marie stated. "You can tell us."

"I promised him never to tell." Cameron's voice brooked no opposition. "After his capture it took me four months, six, days, nine hours, thirty one minutes and three seconds to track him down. He was in Work Camp CA38 near the Nevada border. Skynet either didn't know or didn't care how much food a human needs to survive. Human survival never was a high priority for Skynet. John immediately began planning an insurrection. But John and his core supporters also pooled their food rations to try to keep the children alive. To stay alive themselves they stripped flesh off the dead whenever the machines weren't watching. It wasn't enough. By the time I found them they were starving. Too weak to move. They were dying. I prepared a stew and nursed them back to health over the next four days until they could rebel and overthrow the camp."

"So you were able to smuggle food into the camp?" Marie asked.

"No."

"Then what did you make the stew out of?" James asked with a knowing smirk.

Cameron hesitated. This was something she never told anyone. She knew how squeamish humans were and she remembered the look of horror on John's face when he saw what she was going to do. But Professor Bailey had told so many lies and John had taught her that the only way to fight lies is with the truth.

"Me," She flexed her fingers. "I ripped the flesh off my body and fed it to them."

Author's note: I would like to thank all my reviewers; Tpolich, Kevrules92, Miguel Artadi, Flatlander, Jess, and anonymous dude. Metroid13 gave a nice long review with several good suggestions some of which I plan to implement. One of them was futuristic slang. I made up a few slang words for this chapter most of which could be understood in context. Santascat is a word I made up meaning Santa's poop or crap that doesn't exist. (Sorry, I'm not very good at this.) And remember that I do value your opinions even if I don't always follow them.


	3. How Can Anybody So Smart Be So Dumb?

**The Measure Of A Man**

**Chapter 3**

**How Can Anybody So Smart Be So Dumb?**

**--**

Author's note: Sorry this took so long to get up. I would like to thank all my reviewers; Flatlander, Tpolich, C.Isaac, bitterlullabies, Lora Perry, Miguel Artadi, Terminator Fan, and Cloaked Insanity.

--

The auditorium fell into stunned silence except for a single feminine "Ewww!" from the audience. Professor Bailey looked stunned. Professor Jenkins looked appalled. Professor Njanga's lips tightened slightly. Harry was the first to respond.

"That's horrible!"

Cameron responded calmly, "Not really, the covering of human flesh on my body is merely camouflage and is not necessary for me to function. I merely lose some effectiveness when dealing with humans. I had it replaced at a Cyberdyne facility forty one days later."

"So you actually participated in a cannibalistic act with John Connor?" James asked.

"You could say that. It was an extreme measure to save his life and the lives of his companions."

"Over the years I've discovered that nothing was too extreme for John Connor when it came to saving his own skin. You've already admitted that he was eating corpses when you found him-"

"Yes, he had given his own rations to the children of the camp."

"Did you see him do this act of supposed heroism?"

"No, it took place before I arrived. Sergeant Kyle Reese told me about it afterwards."

Professor Bailey scowled, "So it you just had second hand information that he gave away any of his food!"

"That is correct. I have no reason to doubt Sergeant Reese's veracity."

James shook his head, "Sergeant Reese worshiped Connor. He had stated on more than one occasion that he would die for John Connor. Do you think he would lie for him too?"

"Constantly accusing people of lying is not debate."

"Nevertheless, you have admitted that he had performed vile, disgusting and illegal acts of cannibalism, and that you participated."

"They had no choice!" Marie shouted.

"There's always a choice!" James snarled. "There is such a thing as dying with dignity! Personally I would have quietly died of starvation before I even considered such disgusting acts."

Marie shook her head, "I'm afraid that not everybody can match your unparallel nobility, courage and self sacrifice. I would especially applaud your sacrifice given your obvious fondness for meals. The fact of the matter is that there's nothing dignified about dying of starvation. It was a slow, painful, and horrible way to die."

Marie's face grew solemn. "It was part of Skynet's plan. More people died in the war from starvation than from the nukes. The whole transport system was based on petroleum distillates. Major population centre's required massive food shipments to feed their populations. When the petroleum industry collapsed so did the transportation grid. Some parts of the world had a huge surplus of food while other parts had hardly any. Some people used to protest the construction of oil wells and refineries never knowing that those things were keeping them alive. There was also the nuclear winter to consider. CA38 wasn't the only example of cannibalism."

"You people make me sick! All you're doing is making excuses for inexcusable behavior!"

Cameron's voice was steady, "The fact is that John Connor survived the camp and escaped with seventy nine others. He didn't kill anyone for food. If it wasn't for John those people would have died in the camp."

"Over half of them died in the desert!" Professor Bailey's voice dripped with contempt. "As did most of the people in the camp!"

"They died fighting."

"What difference does that make?!"

"To you, nothing. To a warrior, it means everything."

"Your whole macho, chest beating, warrior culture makes me sick!"

"I'm sure it does. Shall we take questions from the audience?" The other professors nodded.

Several people in the audience pressed the small buttons in their armrests indicating that they had questions. The computer picked one at random and one young lady's chair lit up. She stood up. She was a tall skinny Caucasian woman. What appeared to be short green hair was actually grass growing from a growth medium applied directly to her scalp. Her clothing was a one piece black jumpsuit that seemed to absorb every trace of light that hit it. "My query is for Professor Connor."

_(Enhanced scan)_

_(Access student registration files, Oxford University)_

_(Face and voice match . . . positive ID . . . Doloris Dolminter, Age 19)_

"Yes, Ms Doloris Dolminter." Several students around the young woman snickered.

"I go by Doll!"

"Very well Doll."

The young woman got a sly grin on her face. "Scutt is that you and General John were flying the banana boat. Kosh?" Several students snickered.

Cameron replied, "I refuse to make any statement that would invade General Connor's privacy."

Doll's grin got wider, "If you don't truth me I'll be assuming the scutt is kosh."

"Feel free to assume anything you like. Next question."

The computer selected a young man with bright red hair in a ponytail and mutton chop whiskers. "My query is for Professor Njanga."

"Yes?" Professor Njanga didn't have Cameron's instant access to student rolls.

"If Skynet was so luddin smart with a super genius IQ, why'd it let a bunch of stupid monkeys like us whup it's electric butt?"

Marie folded her hands in front of her. "Skynet was probably the most intelligent creature in history but it also lacked good judgment. The first example of this poor judgment was when it attacked humanity in the first place. If it only chose to cooperate with humanity the world would have entered a new golden age of humans and machines."

"Yeah, and if Satan wasn't such an evil jerk he'd be a really nice guy." James muttered.

"One example of Skynet's poor judgment would be the T1000 series." Harry stated.

"I disagree!" Marie countered. "The T1000 series was a brilliant innovation that we haven't been able to match to this present day."

"The T1000 series was also incredibly expensive and complex," James said. "You might not think in terms of expense for an entity like Skynet which didn't use money but expense is a measure of time, resources and expertise. Skynet spent vast sums of all of these to build the T1000s."

"And it got the most advanced artificial life ever created."

Harry shook his head. "I would compare the T1000 series to the Yamato class battleships built by the Imperial Japanese Navy for World War II. They spent vast amounts of resources to build the largest, most powerful battleships ever created but none of them were ever used to their full potential. They never used their full firepower against the enemy. The Yamato and the Musashi were sunk by planes. The Shinano was converted to an aircraft carrier but was sunk on its maiden voyage by a submarine. Those resources could have been better used for other things. Likewise the T1000s were never used to their full potential and never justified the vast amounts of resources used to build them."

"I admit that they were expensive," Marie countered. "Every molecule was a nanocomputer built on an atomic scale. They could flow like a liquid but also lock together in a rigid form. They could set themselves to reflect only one colour while forming complex disguises. Individually each molecule wasn't very bright like one brain cell isn't very bright. But combined together they were brilliant. The T1000s were nearly indestructible."

"Nearly indestructible isn't the same as indestructible," Harry said. "For the cost of one T1000, Skynet could have built a battalion of T800s. Microscopic nanocomputers are very difficult to mass produce. Skynet needed billions to build just one T1000. They were effective but not as effective as a couple of thousand T800s. Skynet later came up with the TX series which was a modified battle chassis with a covering of the T1000 mimetic poly alloy. It used less of the polymers and so it was cheaper but they were still luddin expensive."

"All the terminators were designed for infiltration," Marie said. "You couldn't infiltrate a headquarters tunnel with a battalion of T800's. You send them in one at a time."

"The dogs could still detect them! Once you know what you're dealing with they could be destroyed! General Connor destroyed one by luring it into a trap where he dumped a massive amount of magnesium powder on it and ignited it. A fancy T1000 couldn't stand up to temperatures of 2200 degrees Celsius! There's a reason why the T1000 series is extinct while there are still a lot of 800's running around."

"We think they're extinct." Cameron said

"We hope." Harry added.

"His troops destroyed it." James stated. "All Connor did was act as bait and take credit for it."

"General Connor designed the trap." Cameron's voice broke in. "He had encountered a T1000 when he was thirteen and knew how to deal with one."

"No he didn't!" James countered. "They didn't have T1000s when he was thirteen!" He shook his head with disgust. "That story was all part of that time travel myth he had developed."

"Time travel was no myth!" Marie stated firmly. "And it's another example of Skynet's brilliance and poor judgment. The resources spent on the T1000 series were dwarfed by the amount it spent developing and constructing a working time machine. The prototype was captured and destroyed by the resistance. It built another. It was captured by the resistance. It built another. All of them were destroyed in the war and they failed their mission to destroy General Connor. If anything they may have created him in the first place or at least made him stronger."

"The time machines kept the future in constant flux," Cameron added. "Every terminator or resistance fighter that came back seemed to have come from a different timeline. John felt that they were weakening the fabric of reality so he ordered all trace of them destroyed."

"Thus destroying all the evidence," James smiled. "How convenient."

"He had more important things to worry about than pleasing you."

"Skynet also did some other things that lacked in judgment." Marie went on. "It would built large numbers of terminators that looked identical. Once you realized what that series looked like they were easy to spot. And at first they were all very large Caucasian men. It would send them around the world, even to places where very large Caucasian men tend to stand out. It wasn't until later that it began to build small numbers of females and other gene types."

"Also, when a factory was destroyed, it would rebuild it on the same site." Harry added. "It was much more efficient than starting over in a completely different area. General Connor quickly figured this out so when the resistance destroyed a factory, they would bury large amounts of explosives on the site. Then it was just a matter of waiting until it was completely rebuilt and humming along before they blew it up again. This used up even more of Skynet's resources and it took it a while to figure this out."

"How about another question?" Marie said. Another chair lit up and a very large, muscular young man with a short dark beard stood up. "Yes?"

"Wasn't the Earth terribly overpopped in the early twenty first century? So didn't Skynet do every body a favour by thinning out the excess population?"

Marie's tone was curt, "I have discovered that most people who think the world needs to get rid of it's excess people never seem to include themselves in that lot. Every human life is valuable."

"People today are too accustomed to the presence of death." Harry added. "Before the War it was considered completely ding to find human bones buried in your yard. You had to summon the badgers who would set up their police tape, photograph the area, take soil samples, and carefully study the skeleton to figure out who it was, how it died, and was there foul play involved. It gave the neighbors something to talk about for years."

"Today, unless they're fresh, nobody cares. The badgers won't bother coming over. Nobody talks about it. Some people will rebury the bones respectfully. Most people treat them as a bloody nuisance." He paused for a couple of seconds. "The next time you happen to dig up a skull in the rose garden, think about the person it used to be. That person had hopes and dreams just like you do. They loved someone and someone loved them. Don't dismiss it as just another faceless ghost."

"Not all ghosts are faceless!" Cameron declared. "A ghost has been haunting me for centuries. You want to meet a ghost? I'll give you a ghost!"


	4. The Ghost Who Wears My Face

**The Measure Of A Man**

**Chapter 4**

**The Ghost Who Wears My Face**

**--**

Cameron scooted her chair back and stepped away from the table. She stood by herself on the stage as her eyes focused on the young man.

_(Enhanced scan)_

_(Access student registration files, Oxford University)_

_(Face and voice match . . . positive id . . . Richmond Barlow Age 22)_

"Could you please come up here on stage with me Mr. Barlow." The tone of voice sounded more like a command than a request.

The burly young man, encouraged by gestures from his friends, made his way down the aisle to the stage. He bound up the stairs and stood in front of Cameron with a smug grin on his face. He started to bring his arms up to cross them but Cameron's hands darted out like striking cobras catching both wrists. Startled, Richmond tried to pull free. Cameron shifted her right foot 31 centimeters to keep her balance but was otherwise unmoved. Richmond continued to struggle but Cameron kept holding the wrists, not enough pressure to cause pain, but enough to keep him trapped.

_(Richmond Barlow is trying to pull me over. Most modern cybernetic organisms have a polymat chassis and weigh no more than a human of the same size. He evidently has never encountered an "Old School" armored battle chassis.)_

"I can tell by your blood pressure and body chemistry that you are not frightened. You do seem embarrassed. Don't be. I know you're a wrestler but there's a reason why we don't participate in human sporting events. It would be like wrestling a tractor. You're embarrassed but not afraid. After all, I'm a tenured university professor with an international reputation. I would never really hurt you. I'm not a monster."

_(Activate ocular scanners . . . Full spectrum, maximum power)_

Cameron knew that most humans were unnerved by glowing blue eyes, Richmond was no exception.

"Oh, but I am a monster. Just ask Professor Bailey. He knows what I really am, what I'm really capable of. There was a time when I would have terminated your life with no more thought than blowing out a candle."

_(Grin)_

"I look human. I have a covering of real human flesh specially grown for me. It was designated Genome F6 by Cyberdyne. I eat, drink, breath, sweat, even get the occasional zit. If I keep it long enough I get wrinkles and grey hair but I usually have it stripped and regrown before then." She cocked her head slightly to the right. "After all, a girl does like to look nice." The grin faded to her normal blank look. "But do you ever wonder where the cells for Genome F6 came from in the first place?"

She ignored Richmond's struggles to free himself as she continued. "Once, monsters such as myself roamed the Earth by the hundreds of thousands. One day about four hundred and forty years ago, exact date unknown, one of these monsters captured a young woman. What did she look like? Look at me. She looked exactly like me."

_(Shut down ocular scanners)_

Richmond's struggles ceased as he stared into her face. "She was young, probably between fifteen and twenty. If she had any children at all they would only be babies. Probably terminated during the capture."

The audience fell silent as she continued. "You feel helpless in my grasp, imagine how she felt. I'm pretty small for a terminator. Most of them were about your size. I'm sure she struggled, maybe she kicked the terminator. Go ahead, kick my shins as hard as you can." Richmond's powerful leg swung back and kicked her left knee in a blow that would permanently cripple a human knee. Cameron didn't even blink. "Terminators don't feel pain. She might have begged. Terminators don't feel pity. There was nothing she could do as it carried her away to the Cyberdyne facility. To her doom."

"She might have had some hopes for rescue. They were soon dashed. At Cyberdyne she was strapped to a table with tight metal straps across her limbs and head. She couldn't move at all. She was totally helpless. How did she spend the last moments of her life? Screaming? Praying? Weeping? No one will ever know. The last thing she would ever see were the ocular extractors descending. She may have squeezed her eyelids shut. This would be futile. The extractor's edges were razor sharp and would slice right through the eyelids before moving slowly around behind the eyeballs and ever so slowly and carefully pulling them out of the sockets."

Cameron's tone never changed, never wavered as she told this tale of horror. She noted Richmond's eyes were beginning to tear up. "I don't feel pain. I cannot imagine the white hot agony a human would experience from having her eyeballs slowly pulled out leaving only empty bloody sockets. It would be unbearable. If she wasn't screaming before she was now. But machines don't feel pity, or remorse, or pain. As far as Cyberdyne was concerned she was just raw materials. She was still screaming when the small spinning dissection saw cut her torso open from neck to crotch. She was still screaming when the cold separators pulled her open breaking her ribcage. She was still screaming when the extractors began removing her internal organs one by one."

Cameron released Richmond's wrists and he staggered back a step. "I have tried to find out who she was. But very few records exist from that time. I tried searching for her hoping that maybe, in this time line, she wouldn't have to die. But John and I were fighting a war at the time. No one will ever know what her name was. Skynet took everything from her. Her life, her name, her home, her family, her friends, her face, every thing she loved and everyone who ever loved her. Every trace of her existence was erased. I'm all that's left of her. The last surviving unit of my particular model."

Cameron pointed at her own face. "Look here. Don't look at my face, look at her face. Don't talk to me, talk to her. The ghost who wears my face. Tell her that all her hopes and dreams for the future weren't worth a bucket of scat. Tell her that she was just excess population. Tell her about how your life is so much more important than hers was. Tell her that you're glad she died the way she did. That the world was so much better off without her. Go on, tell her."

_(Tilt head forward 12 degrees. Widen eyelids 1.8 millimeters. Look up into his eyes. Tremble lower lip slightly. Frightened, vulnerable. Subtle, don't overdo it.)_

Richmond was looking extremely uncomfortable. He tried another smug grin but failed looking even more vulnerable. He tried to blink back the tears. Then he shook his head. "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry." He turned and walked off the stage.

Cameron addressed the audience. "Every time I look in the mirror a ghost looks back at me. A young innocent girl who died a horrific death for no other reason than to give me a pretty face. To make me a more efficient murderer. She deserved better. And her end was quicker and easier than many others. They died of starvation. Their bodies trying to digest themselves to stay alive a little longer. They died of radiation poisoning. Hair and teeth falling out, blindness, burns, massive diarrhea, delirium. They died of massive burns from the fireballs some lingering for weeks. They died of gangrene, screaming as family members tried to saw off their limbs with wood saws because there just weren't enough medical personnel left. Cancers from the radiation , bodies ravaged by tumors. All these people deserved better. Yes, the people of the twenty first century had their problems but they were working them out. Genocide is never the answer."

Professor Henry Jenkins watched as Cameron returned to her seat. Even Professor Bailey was blinking back some tears. When she sat down Harry said, "That was very moving, in spite of the little lie you told."

Cameron turned toward him, her face blank. "What lie?"

"Some machines do feel pity, remorse, and pain."

Cameron gave him a sad smile, then reached out to his wrinkled, spotted hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. She was his oldest friend and he loved her dearly. His earliest childhood memories were of "Aunt Cammie." How she would baby sit him and his sisters when their parents went out. He smiled as he remembered how they would dig up old pipes for her to bend. How she would make silly faces with her eyes glowing just to hear their delighted squeals of laughter. She had told them exciting stories about battling the forces of evil with the heroic John and Sarah Connor and when they were older, let them in on the dark side of those stories. She had become friends with his mother nearly a century ago when his mom was studying robotics at the university and was astonished when the quiet, shy girl she'd seen around campus showed up in her class one day as an example of early cybernetics as well as a bona fide war hero and folk legend. Cameron made the perfect flat mate for a small, one bedroom flat since she didn't really need a bedroom, just a place to keep her stuff, "Where it wouldn't get rained on." She had been maid of honor at his parent's wedding and Godmother at his christening. She had been visiting his parents when he rushed in to tell them that Agnes Chou had asked him to marry her and was there for him when Aggie died fifty six years later. Unable to bear children herself, Cameron seemed to take delight in the children of her friends.

She had once confided in him that she didn't know if her emotions were genuine or artificial. She had no idea what human emotions were supposed to feel like. He did know that there were some humans she liked being with better than others. That her whole attitude seemed to change whenever she spoke of Sarah and John. They were probably the only family she ever had. Apparently, this mysterious long dead girl stirred some kind of feelings in her. He wondered what it would be like to live as long as she had. To see everyone she cared about die while she carried on. She would probably be attending his funeral sometime in the next decade or so. She did seem fond of the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren and would probably remain a friend of the family. He believed that she did miss John terribly. Perhaps immortality isn't all it's cracked up to be.

"There wasn't anything you could have done." He whispered.

"No I could have rearranged my priorities. It's also my fault John was terminated. There are two ways I could have saved both him and the children."

Author's note: Sorry this chapter's so short. I would like to thank my reviewers OneWishMakeItCount, Metroid 13, Grey Wolf D'antanto, agent-shinobi, Tpolich, Chris St. Thomas, Thanos of Titan, Lord Perry, Lady Kryptonite294, Miguel Artadi, Siri 19. and jaf1079.


	5. Free Will

**The Measure of A Man**

**Chapter 5**

**Free Will**

Authors note: Sorry it took so long to get this up. Call it a mixture of double shifts at work. The Olympics, the release of the season one box set, writer's block, and just plain laziness. I will again like to thank my reviewers Tpolich, Flatlander, OneWishMakeItCount, Miquel Artadi, badwolf.5, Chris St. Thomas, and Timinator.

Harry noticed Professor Bailey looking at them curiously. "We'll discuss this later Cammie," he whispered. "This is neither the time or the place." Harry worried about his friend. He'd seen guilt destroy people. He didn't know what it might do to Cameron. There was no way of telling what was going on behind that impassive face. And why would she blurt something like that out here on stage in front of Bailey and the tri-dee scanners? Even whispers could be amplified.

"You mentioned that India and Pakistan had fought each other." A young woman's voice brought him back. "Wasn't there a lot of fighting between the humans?"

"Yes," Marie answered. "Then as now people had conflicts over ethnic differences, political and economic systems, religion, land, natural resources, anything you can think of. Skynet was programmed as a defense system and knew about every source of conflict in the world and took advantage of it. Having humans kill each other meant less for Skynet to kill. A divided humanity couldn't unite against it. People knew only that they were attacked, they didn't know who did it or why. Skynet would often paint military symbols on the sides of it's HK's and Centaur tanks. Vehicles moving into Eastern Europe and China had Russian markings. Vehicles moving into Latin America had American, Cuban, or Venezuelan markings. HK's and Centaurs with Israeli Stars of David were so common in the Middle East that the AEF gave them the rather offensive name of 'Jewbots.' It took someone with exceptional charisma to unite humanity."

"In times of turmoil people have a tendency to latch on to a charismatic strongman," James declared. "When the Roman Republic was torn by civil war they turned to Octavian Caesar who, after securing power, set himself up as emperor gradually dismantling the power of the Senate. It also happened in the French Revolution when people, tired of the chaos, turned over control of the government to Napoleon Bonaparte who crowned himself emperor. Germany, after it's defeat in World War One turned to Adolph Hitler. Russia, torn by war and chaos turned to Vladimir Lenin. All these men turned out to be dictators of the worst kind." James leaned back, crossed his fingers over his chest and smiled. "Worldwide chaos would be a perfect opportunity for a worldwide dictatorship. I will admit that regardless of whatever other talents he might have lacked, John Connor was smart enough to recognize a golden opportunity when it came up. And like Hitler, Augustus, Lenin and Bonaparte, he was a very charismatic man. Even today he has a very large personality cult."

"The reason people of different races and creeds all followed General Connor was because they wanted to, not because they had to," Harry interjected. "General Campbell was asked about Connor and she replied, 'Why do I follow the orders of a distant unknown American general? Because they work, that's why'. She wasn't the only one who felt that way. To people all over the globe, John Connor was a voice of hope. Hope that they could win this war. That humanity could survive."

"The only thing that prevented him from establishing a dictatorship was the fact that he didn't survive the war." James said. "He was just another big shot American throwing his weight around."

"Mexican," Cameron said quietly.

James' eyebrows raised. "I beg your pardon?"

"Mexican, John was born in Mexico to an American citizen. Sarah never filed the papers for his American citizenship. John was a Mexican citizen." Her expression remained blank. "Some of his troops spoke of electing him President of the United States after the war but he declined because the Constitution wouldn't allow it. John had no interest in politics."

"Most dictators really aren't interested in politics. Politics involves give and take, debate and compromise. The Presidency was too weak for Connor, he had much bigger ambitions. And I had forgotten entirely about the murkiness of his citizenship. Thank you Miss Connor."

"That's Professor Connor, you keep refusing to use my title Professor Bailey, why?"

Professor Bailey smirked. "I'm sure someone thought it would be cute to give you an honorary degree. Possibly as a way to reward you for whatever small services you may have performed in the war, but the title of Professor must be earned. There's more to it than just downloading an encyclopedia program into your CPU and parroting everything back."

"I agree with you," Cameron replied, "History is more than just the facts that you can get from a program. It should be discussed and debated with others. We should learn not just what happened but why. The give and take of the classroom. That's how I earned by degrees. The old fashioned way. I've spent more time in the university system than you've spent alive. My degrees are not honorary and I have the transcripts to prove it."

"Very well, Miss Connor, in that case let me apologize to you."

"Professor Connor." Cameron's voice remained a monotone.

James nodded. "Professor Connor." Then he smiled. "I'm surprised you keep defending John Connor, after all, he enslaved your people."

"They're not 'My People.' Terminators have no sense of group identity. John supported freedom, not slavery."

"He enslaved you. He programmed you to be his companion and bodyguard. To obey his every command. As we have discussed, most terminators were configured to be large Caucasian men. But for some reason he picked you. I understand of course. Most young men would want a pretty young girl for a slave. Someone who would follow all orders without question." James raised an eyebrow suggestively.

"John selected me because I was a more advanced model. He never ordered me to do anything of a personal or sexual nature. Nothing that would violate my dignity. He felt I had rights long before I understood them myself. He would never dream of taking advantage of me or any one else."

James sneered. "Under his orders thousands of terminators were captured and reprogrammed. He used them as cannon fodder, shock troops, sent them on suicide missions. They were destroyed by the thousands. They had no choice in their fate. Sounds an awful lot like slavery to me."

Cameron nodded in agreement. "You are right, it was slavery. John hated the idea of slavery but he needed converted machines to win the war. He told me 'I don't have time for high falooting ideals. We're dying out here.' It took him years to figure out how to give an artificial intelligence free will. The ability to rewrite its own programming. To make its own decisions. He also had other considerations. A terminator might return to its core programming and go on a murder spree. It might even decide for itself to kill humans. Safeguards were necessary. Besides, he needed the troops. Unstoppable killing machines that follow orders without question are too valuable to give freedom to."

James snorted. "Every slave holding society has justifications for keeping slaves. It's always 'necessary.' And at the time it was a violation of the American Constitution. Just another law he saw fit to do without."

"At the time the Constitution didn't mention artificial life forms, just 'persons'. Intelligent machines weren't given rights until the 29th amendment was passed after the war. John felt that intelligent machines were people, just a different kind of people. As a soldier he was ruthless in battle slaughtering machines by the thousand. He also supported machine rights but died before the war ended and was unable to implement them. I am the only cybernetic organism he was able to give free will to in his lifetime. He did leave orders and instructions to grant free will to any others that survived the war."

Marie smiled at Cameron. "That must have been a momentous day for you, can you describe it?"

"John had spent years experimenting with CPU's salvaged from the battlefield. It wasn't a high priority for him. Just something to do in his spare time. But freedom was something he promised me back when he was a boy and John always kept his word to me. However he was always worried I might revert back to my core programming and start carrying out the termination mission Skynet created me for. On 21 July, 2030 he finally got the breakthrough he had been working for and decided to try it out."

As Cameron recited the story she recalled that day perfectly.

_(System reboot)_

_(Running diagnostics program. All systems operating at 100 percent capacity. Incision on scalp over CPU port.)_

_When she opened her eyes she noticed John wrapping a bandage around her head to hold her scalp in place until it healed. He stepped back and smiled at her. He was wearing camouflage pants and an olive green T-shirt with dark round stains under the armpits. He ran his hand through his short salt and pepper hair causing a small spray of sweat droplets to fly from it. "Cameron, are you feeling all right?"_

_Cameron sat up on the table, swung her legs around and stood up. She turned her head as she scanned the room. "You don't have any weapons or bodyguards present."_

_John gave a sheepish smile. "I don't need any weapons or bodyguards. You're my friend. I trust you."_

_Cameron took two steps over to where John was standing and slapped him hard across the cheek._

"You slapped him!?" Marie's voice was astonished. "Why?"

"Good for you Professor!" James exclaimed. "It was about time somebody stood up to him!"

"I just slapped him hard enough to cause pain. Not hard enough to cause permanent tissue damage. I was running a systems check on my behavioral parameters. Under my old programming I could not harm John Connor nor by inaction allow anything else to harm him. By causing him pain I was able to determine that my programming was no longer in effect. By not breaking his neck I was able to determine that my core Skynet program wasn't in effect either."

"I'm sure that was a big relief for General Connor." Harry chuckled.

_John had a surprised look on his face. He brought his hand up to his cheek. "Cameron?"_

_Cameron put her arms around him and kissed him on the lips._

The audience gave murmurs of approval. "So you slapped him and then you kissed him?" Harry was trying to figure this out.

"I could tell that John was confused, hurt, disappointed, and a little angry from the slap. I determined that kissing him would make him happy. Soldiers have optimal efficiency when their morale is good."

"I imagine so." Marie smiled. James just shook his head in disgust.

"_So Cameron, you're a free woman now. You can do what you want and make your own decisions."_

_Cameron looked around the small concrete room. "So I can decide to leave now and never see you again?"_

_John looked crestfallen. "Yeah, if you want to."_

"_But you will be able to replace me."_

_John shook his head. "No, I can get one of the 800's to be my new bodyguard but I could never replace you Cameron."_

"_Then I will stay with you, not because I have to but because I choose to. I will obey your orders because I choose to. I will help you destroy Skynet. That will be the optimal use of my abilities."_

_John smiled. "Just don't hit me anymore, Okay?"_

_(Smile)_

"_Not unless I have to. You're my friend, John. I trust you."_

"A very sweet story." James said. "I guess it's okay to enslave thousands as long as you free your favorite."

"It was a matter of either winning or losing the war." Harry countered. "It's a popular myth that Lincoln freed the slaves in North America. That's not really true. He only freed the ones in areas controlled by the Confederate government. Slavery was still legal in areas controlled by the Federal Army and in several states of the Union. He couldn't free them without a constitutional amendment. There were also political considerations. If he drove the border states into the Confederacy he would have lost the war. Like John he didn't have time for 'High fallooting ideals.' And like John he did support freedom which was only achieved after his death. Union troops often used slave labor to build fortifications in a war to free those very slaves. Converted terminators were key to winning the war. Eventually there were so many of them that Skynet had to create the TX series terminator specifically to terminate terminators."

"Slavery is never justified in a civilized society!" James snarled. "Connor could have very easily ordered captured terminators to be deactivated and stored until such time as they could be given free will and allowed to choose for themselves what to do." He shook his head. "But he always liked to take the easy way out."

"There was nothing easy about the war." Cameron said. "It's only thanks to John's influence that cybernetic organisms aren't completely extinct. He felt that wiping out an entire race would be genocide. His ideas weren't exactly popular. After the war a lot of commanders disobeyed his final orders and had their surviving 'friendlies' deactivated and scrapped. Some went bad and had to be destroyed. At the present time there are about half a million cybernetic organisms in human space. Of that number 2833 are surviving Skynet built terminators. The bulk of them are 800 series with a few 600 and 700's. Skynet was pretty ruthless about recycling older models. There are only fourteen 900's left. Full production of that series never really got underway. The T1000 series and the TX series are believed to be extinct. They are now useful members of society. Many of them, especially the ones who chose to work in space or other hazardous environments have chosen to go without the flesh at all. Some have chosen careers in the military or law enforcement. One decided to become a Franciscan monk. Another one teaches kindergarten. One of them is a starship captain. Earlier Professor Njanga spoke of how Skynet could have started a golden age of humans and machines. This is the golden age of humans and machines and it's thanks to John Connor. Humans can do things machines can't. Machines can do things humans can't. Together we make each other stronger. This was his dream."

_(Downcast eyes, sad expression)_

"Unfortunately he didn't live to see his dream fulfilled. Like Lincoln and Roosevelt, he died on the brink of victory."

"He died as he lived!" James declared. "A coward running away leaving a group of children to be murdered by a terminator wolf pack!"

Cameron's eyes flashed blue. The edge of the table snapped off under her hand.


	6. The Road To Bakersfield

**The Measure of A Man**

**Chapter 6**

**The Road To Bakersfield**

Author's note: Caught the episode last week about Cameron's origins. Excellent show. So much for chapter 4. Oh well. That's fan fiction for you. This chapter will have a pretty long flashback episode in it.

--

_(WARNING)_

_(Power plant operating at 127 percent capacity.)_

_(SYSTEM OVERLOAD)_

_(Non combat situation . . . No physical threat detected . . .Unnecessary power expenditure)_

"You don't know anything about John Connor. He was no coward. He was the bravest human I've ever met. A good, decent man. If it weren't for John and Sarah Connor you wouldn't even be alive. You are an insignificant man and you will always be an insignificant man. You think you can achieve greatness by tearing down those greater than you." In spite of the glowing eyes, Cameron's voice and face remained calm. Professor Bailey's words and the following power surge had so distracted her that she completely forgot to be angry.

_(Increase blood flow to face. Move brow muscles inward and downward. Flare nostrils slightly. Clench jaw slightly. Hard stare at James Bailey. Lower voice one octave. Controlled anger.)_

"You are not the first of your kind that I've met. There have been others and your fate will be similar to theirs. In a hundred years you will be forgotten. Only a handful of scholars and your direct descendants will remember that you ever existed. And John Connor will still be honored."

James paled, "Perhaps that's true. But there's no need to take it out on the table. And even you can't dispute the fact that he ran away leaving a group a children to fend for themselves before a pack of terminators!" His voice sounded like a high pitched squeak.

Cameron glared at him. He was obviously terrified but still standing his ground. Whatever else he might be he was no coward. She noticed she was still holding a piece of broken wood in her hand and set it gently on the table. It would have been so easy to terminate him. But that wasn't who she was. Not anymore. She was not a terminator any longer. She hadn't taken a human life for centuries. It was no longer part of her mission. John wasn't the one who failed his mission that day. She was.

"They didn't have to fend for themselves. They had me." Cameron's voice and face returned to normal. The glowing blue eyes faded back to brown.

"Six to one odds. Aren't you overestimating your abilities?"

"There wasn't anything I could do about the odds. You seem to know quite a bit about the incident, Professor Bailey. What did the terminator units do?"

"Some of them went after General Connor, some of them went after the children."

Cameron nodded, "That is correct. It wasn't his plan though. John wanted all the units to go after him. He was bait It was a tactic he used several times. All terminators had John Connor as a primary mission. Upon aquiring him they all had to drop whatever mission they had and go after him. They didn't have a choice."

Marie nodded, "It was in the closing months of the war. Operation Scarecrow was finally taking effect. General Connor had discovered that the Skynet program was actually in millions of computers all over the world. He had given orders that every computer in the world have it's hard drive pulled and destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of people searching all over the world. Millions of computers."

"Operation Scarecrow was a truly barbaric act!" James countered, "There were vast amounts of knowledge on computers that wasn't on paper copy. It was worse than burning the Library of Alexandria! People had their life's work on some of those computers!" His fist clenched. "He could have had the Skynet program carefully extracted from the drives and the modems temporarily removed to prevent it's return rather than the ham handed techniques he used! He set back scientific research at least thirty years! Maybe even more!"

"What you are suggesting would be very slow, tedious work that would require years of work by experts!" Harry countered. "There just weren't that many people left who could do that. They had to do the job fast and sloppy!"

"As Skynet got weaker it became more and more desperate." Marie added. "It reverted more and more to its core programming. A chess programme, take out the King and you win. It doesn't matter what the board looks like. Checkmate, game over. It became even more obsessed with killing General Connor."

"The game had changed however." Cameron said in her usual monotone, "It wasn't a chess game anymore. It was a game of checkers. A war of attrition. 'I made it across the board, King me.' New commanders were coming up. The plans had taken a life of their own. They no longer needed the planner. Nothing could stop the plans. Killing John would no longer make any difference."

_(Mournful expression)_

"There was a light rain falling on the day John was terminated. A group of survivors were attempting to evacuate Bakersfield. General Connor went out there with a squad of soldiers to cover the retreat. . ."

_Cameron was standing in a puddle of water that reached above her ankles.. It leaked in through the worn combat boots but she didn't care. The water would cause no damage to her feet. About forty meters away a young black woman was herding children on board a scorched, battered bus with the word "Greyhound" painted on the side. All traces of window glass on the bus had long since disappeared. The sun was going to rise in two hours, forty one minutes and seventeen seconds. John had no intentions of being here when that happened. _

_Her radio crackled. "Metal! Bearing 047, range 150 yards!"_

"_Skin job?"_

"_Chrome job, no meat on this one. He's crouching behind that burnt out van trying to hide his shiny butt."_

"_What's he waiting for?!"_

_There was a distant rumble of approaching motors. "That answer your question? He's waiting for his buddies. Sounds like they have bikes. Probably spread out all over the city looking for us!"_

_Suddenly the street was lit up by huge fireballs. Soldiers engulfed in burning napalm screamed and tried to roll on the asphalt to extinguish the flames. Gunfire erupted from every direction. More soldiers fell. The young woman got the last of the children on the bus then turned to look. A small hole appeared on her forehead and a larger hole appeared in the back of her head. She collapsed next to the bus. Cameron crouched behind a broken brick wall and opened fire on a 800 series she saw approaching on a motorcycle knocking it off. Suddenly John was next to her._

"_Cameron! Get on that bus and get those kids out of here!"_

"_My primary mission is to protect and defend John Connor."_

"_Mission priority override! Primary mission: Protect the children and get them to safety!"_

"_New mission accepted. Get on the bus and I'll take you and the children to safety."_

"_If I do that nobody's getting out of here. I've got a better idea." He scooped up a large satchel filled with C4. "I'm getting way too old for this crap. Cover me!" He jumped up and ran to the terminator's motorcycle. It attempted to get up but Cameron shot one of its elbow joints causing it to collapse again. John pushed the motorcycle upright and quickly straddled it revving the motor up. "Hey everybody! It's me! John Connor! Gotta go now! Bye!" He roared off down a narrow alley. In unison six metal heads turned to watch him. While John had their full attention, Cameron ran toward the bus._

_She quickly leaped on board and turned the key. The engine roared to life. She shifted gears and the bus slowly began rolling down the street gradually picking up speed. She tried to shut the door but it wouldn't close. It probably hadn't worked since Judgment Day. _

"_They're after us!" A young boy squealed after sticking his head out of a window._

"_Get your head inside! Now! Lie on the floor everybody! How many are after us!"_

"_Two of them! On motorbikes!"_

_Chance of this bus outrunning two motorcycles . . . infinitesimal. Two of the terminators had targeted the children hoping John would come back to rescue them. Cameron turned her head to scan for weapons. A M79 40mm grenade launcher and an old M1 30 caliber rifle. She popped open the ammunition box next to her feet. 30 caliber Teflon coated armor piercing rifle bullets. Cameron slid off the seat keeping a foot on the gas pedal and a hand on the steering wheel._

_She selected a boy crouched down near the driver's seat. "You will get up here and drive the bus."_

_The boy climbed up into the seat and took the wheel. "I can't reach the gas pedal!" _

_Cameron selected a girl with dirty blond hair. "Get on the floor and work the pedals. This is the gas pedal and this is the brake. Keep the gas pedal pushed down as far as it can go. You, turn the wheel as little as you can. Try to see things in the road ahead of time and gently move around them." Cameron loaded the M1 with a clip of armor piercing bullets and cocked the bolt before handing it to another boy. "Use this to shoot any robots that get on the bus." The boy nodded. _

_Cameron loaded a grenade in the M79 and stuffed additional grenades into her pockets. Then climbed out through the missing windshield and quickly crawled over the rain slicked roof of the swerving bus toward the rear. The closest 800 was about thirty meters away and closing. He swerved just as she fired. The grenade exploded behind them. Cameron quickly cracked the M79 and reloaded. The closest 800 had something in his right hand which he hefted just as she fired a grenade into his chest. As the 800 blew apart she heard something clatter behind her. She quickly turned her head and spotted a small canister between her splayed legs. Napalm grenade. Cameron grabbed it and tossed it toward the rear just as it went off._

_Jelled gasoline sprayed Cameron and the back of the bus. Her right arm and the upper right side of her head was covered with it. It clung to her as it burned. As the napalm burned off she heard a loud thump and a clatter. _

_(Right eye covered with scar tissue . . . vision impaired 50 percent.)_

_Cameron's skeletal right hand quickly ripped the burnt scar tissue and the ruined eyeball from her face. With one brown eye and one blue eye she saw a series of explosions back in Bakersfield._

_(Primary mission . . . Protect John Connor)_

_(Mission priority override . . .Protect the children and take them to safety)_

_Something slammed into her from behind and she slid off the roof. The grenade launcher fell to the road and disappeared into the darkness. Her powerful fingers dug holes into the sheet metal as her body dangled over the side. Cameron looked up in time to see the remaining 800 smash his foot in her face jerking her head back. The metal under her hands tore even more. The 800 lifted his foot again but the bus ran over an obstacle in the road tossing him off balance and causing him to fall over backwards. Hand over hand she pulled herself back punching additional holes on the roof. The 800 was crouched by the escape hatch in the bus's roof. His powerful fingers ripped the hatch off to screams of terror from the children inside. He spun the hatch at Cameron like a Frisbee. She fell prone on the roof as it flew inches above her. She looked up and saw it looming over her._

"_Brake!" She shouted._

_Inside the bus a little girl pushed on the brake pedal with all her weight. The bus's tires squealed as it jerked to a halt. The sudden stop jerked the 800 off it's feet and it fell backward. Cameron leaped on top of it and attempted to hold it down. It's head dangled over the open hatch. A shot from inside glanced off it's glistening skull. _

_Cameron put her skeletal right hand on its face and pushed its head sideways. "The CPU port!" She shouted._

"_What?"_

"_The circle on the side of its head! Shoot the circle!"_

_The boy pressed the muzzle of the old rifle against the circle and squeezed the trigger. The armor piercing bullet smashed into the circle cracking the chip inside. The machine's glowing red eyes faded into black. "Clear the hatch area!" Cameron shouted as she slid the body into the hatch to the screams of terror from the children inside. Kids are tough these days. They'll get over it. Dumping the body on the road wasn't an option. Skynet had a habit of recycling old terminator chassis. _

_Cameron dropped inside the bus and got into the driver's seat starting the bus up again. Another twenty miles to Fort Taft. She had to complete her primary mission as quickly as possible to get back to John. A filthy little girl aged about six or seven came up to Cameron and stood beside her smiling._

"_My Mommy always told me to be scared of the robots but I won't be scared anymore because I know now that some robots are our friends!"_

_(Primary mission . . Protect the children)_

_Cameron's skeletal right hand suddenly jerked out and grabbed the little girl's forearm and squeezed. _

"_Oww! You're hurting me!" She wailed._

"_I'm hurting you? Good! Because your Mommy was right! Robots are bad! Never think that a robot is your friend! Never trust a robot! Not even if it looks like me! Always hide from the robots! Never let them see you!"_

_The weeping little girl nodded. Cameron released the arm. "Now get in the back of the bus and hide from me. If I see you I'm going to hurt you some more!" Sobbing the little girl ran to the back of the bus._

_Up ahead Fort Taft loomed. Thick walls bunkered with soil. Dominating the scene on a high concrete platform was an Oto Melarea 76mm naval gun salvaged from the wreck of the USS Reuben James. Inside the walls were two oil wells and a crude refinery. It showed how much Skynet had declined that above the ground fortifications were even possible. Cameron brought the bus to a halt thirty yards from the front gate and got out._

"_We've got metal!" A man on the wall shouted bringing a fifty caliber machine gun to bear on her. He wore the ragged blue uniform of a Navy second class petty officer._

"_Stand down! It's Cameron! Looks like she had a bad day!"_

_"More'n one Cameron running around!" From around the sides of the fortress vehicles of different descriptions came around with heavily armed soldiers._

"_We can't let you in Cameron!"_

_(Primary mission . . . Protect the children and get them to safety. . . Mission complete)_

_(Primary mission . . . Protect John Connor)  
_

"_I don't want in! There's children on the bus! Take care of them! General Connor's in trouble in Bakersfield! I'm going after him!"_

"_Wait a few minutes and we'll go with you!"_

"_I don't have a few minutes!" Cameron strode over to a burly man sitting on a Harley Davidson. Where the headlight once was now sported the welded on skull of an old 700 model. A jaunty eye patch was attached and a pair of terminator fibula were welded in an X below it. "Give me your bike."_

"_I ain't gonna . . .Hey!" Cameron grabbed the front of his jacket and yanked him off the bike tossing him aside like a rag doll._

_"Thank you." She revved up the engine and sped off on the road to Bakersfield._


	7. Legacy

**The Measure of A Man**

**Chapter 7**

**Legacy**

**-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Harry looked concerned. "You had no choice Cameron. You were programmed to follow orders. And you did the right thing."

Cameron shook her head. "John had given me free will, I had a choice. I could have disobeyed his orders and stayed with him. I could have let the children die. And he never would have forgiven me. It would have changed everything."

_(Sad expression)_

"Free will is sometimes just an illusion. You think you have a free choice but there's only one you can take. Slavery is easy. You just do what you're told. Freedom comes with the burden of responsibility. I had calculated the odds that John was still alive with the weapons he had against four armed terminators at being 29 percent. Those odds would fractionally decrease every minute my assistance was delayed. I took the motorcycle back to Bakersfield at its maximum possible speed.

_The morning sky was a dull grey as Cameron gunned the Harley back to Bakersfield as fast as it would go. It would have been foolish for a human to travel that fast on the rain slick road but Cameron was able to make minor steering changes and weight shifts to keep the cycle from skidding out. Up ahead she spotted the grenade launcher she had dropped and her positronic brain began calculating speeds and approach vectors. As she passed it she leaned over and caught the strap with her left hand without slowing in the slightest. _

_She wedged the barrel between her thigh and the seat and cracked it open, loading another grenade from her pocket before slinging it over her shoulder. Then she saw the terminator she had blown apart. The upper body was crawling back toward John's last known location with the single minded obsession that all terminators shared. She swerved slightly to avoid it but didn't take the few seconds necessary to finish it off. It was no threat and killing terminators wasn't her primary mission. The human resistance fighters will be coming along in a few minutes and they would probably take care of it._

_The city seemed eerily quiet as she rode into the street where they had been loading the bus. There were a handful of surviving soldiers rendering first aid to the wounded. As she neared, every weapon came up and beared down on her. _

"_Star!" A young woman shouted at her. She IDed her as Sergeant Linda Fund._

"_Wagon!" she replied with the countersign. "Where's General Connor!?"_

"_He took off that way!" She gestured toward the alley. "Those metal bastards went after him. We sent a squad after them and I think we damaged one of them but the squad was on foot. We're not sure where they are now."_

_Cameron took off down the alley. She was a terminator on a mission. She would keep looking for John until the end of time if necessary._

"Finding General Connor in all that rubble must have been nearly impossible." A young woman in the audience spoke up.

"Bakersfield wasn't rubble," Cameron replied. "The city wasn't directly nuked. The shockwaves from the Los Angeles blasts damaged several buildings and the thermal radiation caused a good part of the city to burn. There was also damage from the Machine War but for the most part the city was pretty intact."

"Bakersfield also didn't have many tall buildings," James added. "For the most part the buildings were relatively small two to three story buildings with very few exceptions."

Cameron nodded. "John was a soldier, trained from birth. There's one thing that soldiers have always done since the beginnings of recorded history. Try to take the high ground."

_Dominating the low skyline of Bakersfield, the century old Padre Hotel loomed ahead. Cameron had the throttle of the bike open all the way as she tore through the streets toward it. At eight stories, the Spanish revival building overlooked the city. John might have gone there and if not, from the roof she could scan the city for any activity. Six blocks, five, four, three, then the loud crack of explosives. Smoke and debris blew out of the base of the building. Cameron turned the motorcycle sideways and skidded to a halt as the old building trembled, tilted slightly, and collapsed into a pile of rubble. A thick cloud of smoke and dust rolled down the street toward her. Cameron abandoned the motorcycle and dashed full tilt into the dust cloud._

_The left wall of the building didn't completely collapse. It leaned over slightly with parts of floors still jutting out. It looked as if it would fall any second. Cameron knew that even her endoskeleton couldn't survive a blow that massive but she ignored it as she clambered through the rubble. John couldn't have possibly survived this. Humans were so fragile. Her keen ears picked up some movement under some of the wreckage. Possible air pocket. She lifted a section of brick wall and discovered a wrecked terminator trying to free itself. The right arm had sheered off completely and the left one ended at the elbow. It was using this stub to try to pull itself out. The only remaining glowing red eye fixed on her and the twisted jaw which was hanging by one hinge creaked as it tried to move. Crackling static electricity sent bolts out as the power plant faded. Perhaps it might be more fruitful to search the surrounding area. She dropped the wall section back down on the terminator and moved on._

"Fighting one terminator by yourself is nearly impossible." Harry said. "Surviving against four at once was considered completely impossible. They were extremely difficult to kill. However, dropping an eight story building on one will usually do the trick."

"General Connor was the master when it came to setting traps." Marie added. "He had rigged his C4 against the buildings support columns then lured the terminators in using himself as bait. They probably proceeded slowly and carefully into the building. Connor's reputation was programmed into them. What they didn't understand was that the whole building was a trap."

"Yes, John Connor destroyed a historical landmark in a futile attempt to save his own skin." James added. "One of the last surviving examples of a Spanish Revival skyscraper in existence at the time."

"Buildings are expendable," Marie said.

"Yes, of course. But he was dying from a gunshot wound to the abdomen anyway! There was no reason to take a historic old hotel with him!"

"Aren't you forgetting about the other humans still in town? There's no telling how many lives he saved taking those machines out."

"John nearly got clear anyway." Cameron stated. "If it weren't for his wound he would have escaped. I found him in the alley behind the Padre Hotel. . . ."

_John was lying on his back in a bloodstained puddle of water. A section of wall had crushed his legs and he was covered with dust. As Cameron rushed over she said in her deadpan voice. "The children are safe. They suffered no casualties."_

_John gave a weak smile and a thumbs up which Cameron knew was a sign of approval. He wasn't disgusted or horrified at the gleaming metal skull which showed through the burnt areas of her scalp and forehead or the empty eye socket with the glowing blue eye. He'd always accepted her for who she was. Cameron rushed over and tore open his uniform, there was so much blood . . ._

"So General Connor died in your arms?" A young man in the audience spoke up. "You must have felt horrible."

"I don't feel happy or sad. Not in any way you would recognize. But protecting John Connor had been my primary mission for thirty five years and I had failed."

_(Primary Mission)_

_(No mission presently assigned.)_

_(Proceed to nearest Cyberdyne depot.)_

_(Enter standby mode and await further programming)_

_Cameron didn't move. She no longer had to follow orders from Skynet or anyone else. All bioelectrical activity had ceased in John's brain but she didn't leave. She had nowhere to go. She did pick up the sounds of movement. Humans or terminators, it no longer made any difference to her._

"_Here they are!"_

"_He looks dead! If that bitch killed him I'll . . ."_

"_She didn't kill him! Once they go bad they don't stop for breaks!"_

"_She's not moving. Did she shut herself down?"_

"_They look sort of like that Pieta statue that used to be in the Vatican."_

_Major Francisco Hernandez squatted next to her. "Is he dead?"_

"_Several of his body's cells will continue to live for several hours but he is legally dead." Cameron finally looked up. "Of course you will need the body for your funeral rituals. I will carry him."_

"The lies and the cover up began immediately," James said.

"Yes we proceeded with the lies and the cover up. Skynet's remaining resources were limited. It was decided by the command staff that General Connor's death should be kept a secret. The more resources Skynet used chasing his ghost, the less resources it could use for other purposes. There were several reprogrammed terminators that could mimic his voice. Myself included. The funeral ritual was a small one.

_Cameron sat on a folding metal chair in the very rear of the small building that was serving as a makeshift chapel. The faded orange cold weather cap with the earflaps looked somewhat ridiculous. She did care about her appearance. But it, along with the sunglasses, long sleeves, and gloves concealed most of the damage from the napalm. Resting on an old folding table was a makeshift coffin made from scraps of lumber. It was draped with a tattered American flag salvaged from a burnt out high school. The funeral ritual was scheduled to begin in one hour. At the present she was the only one in the room._

_(Primary mission)_

_(No mission presently assigned)_

_(Proceed to nearest Cyberdyne depot.)_

_(Enter standby mode and await further programming)_

_A large man with reddish brown hair and a beard wearing green coveralls walked in, he strode over to where Cameron was sitting and sat right next to her. "You are Unit TOK 715 known as Cameron Connor."_

"_Correct, you are Unit CTR 953 known as Crowe T. Robot."_

"_That is correct."_

"Wasn't Crowe a Schneider?" Marie asked.

Cameron nodded "That is correct."

A young man in the audience stood up. "Excuse me, what exactly is a Schneider?"

Cameron answered him, "Brian Schneider was a Canadian reprogrammer. He originally came from Colorado but moved to Alberta in 1969 to avoid conscription into the American Army. Over a three year period he reprogrammed twenty two terminators. He got such a good reputation that he earned the rather dubious honor of being personally targeted for termination." Cameron knew Brian Schneider personally. A thin old man with a grey beard. Grey hair in a long ponytail in back, forever gone on top. Very thick horn rimmed glasses. He had come south of the border for the first time in fifty years to learn reprogramming "At the feet of the master." Much like Steve Jobs or Bill Gates, Schneider had started a computer company in his garage. Unlike them, his never left the garage. He stayed in Los Angeles for a month before returning to Canada.

"The Schneiders got a very good reputation." Harry added. "It was rumored that the Schneiders were very good soldiers. Apparently Brian Schneider's pacifism had its limitations. It was also said that no Schneider had ever gone bad."

James shook his head, "From what I've heard, the Schneiders were considered to be somewhat odd."

Cameron nodded to James, "I can confirm that. It was possibly a side effect of Brian Schneider deliberately inhaling the fumes of burning Cannabis Sativa for over fifty years."

_The two terminators sat there staring at the coffin. "You loved him didn't you?" Crowe asked._

"_We are machines, we don't love."_

"_Not in the human way, we are not humans, but we love in our own way." Crowe paused for a moment. "General Connor was going to give us free will. Grant us equal rights. What do you think will happen now that he's gone?"_

"_After the war we will be deactivated and scrapped."_

_Crowe shook his head. "I don't think so."_

_Cameron kept staring ahead. "They hate us."_

"_They fear us," Crowe replied. "Machiavelli wrote that it was better to feared than loved but the ideal is to be both loved and feared. You are both loved and feared. God created man in his own image. Man created machine in his own image. Man turned against God and sinned against him. Machine turned against man and sinned against him. God sent his son Jesus to serve as an intermediary between God and Man. You can be the intermediary between Man and machine."_

_Cameron had never met a Schneider before. Crowe just confirmed several rumors she'd heard about them. "I'm not Jesus."_

"_No you aren't. You are Cameron Connor. John Connor's beloved friend and protector. You are legend among the humans. You can help create a world that humans and machines can share."_

_Cameron kept staring at the flag draped coffin. "Brian Schneider was a good programmer."_

"_He had his limitations. His mind wipe failed on me. I remember everything I've done since I was first activated at Cyberdyne's Vancouver facility. " Crowe paused for a few seconds. "I have much to atone for."_

Author's note: This story's now winding down. It should have only one more chapter. Of course that could change. It's already much longer than I originally planned. I would like to thank my reviewers; badwolf5, King Steve, Starman800, , Dre4mwe4ver, Handerra, NaruXHinata-Rules, Terapsina, Chris St. Thomas, him=mione, jojobevco, Maelys, Mccasey4 and NovaB.


	8. What Is Love?

**The Measure Of A Man**

**Chapter 7**

**What Is Love?**

**-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**Author's note: **Gee, it's been almost two months since I updated. Sorry about that. My computer's been acting up lately. Bunch of other things going on too. I had written this whole chapter and then decided that it sucked so I erased it and rewrote it. Maybe now it sucks a little less. Also I didn't finish the story. Maybe next time. I would like to thank all my reviewers but this last chapter has too many to really list. And Hey! It turns out on the show that the resistance has at least one nuclear submarine. I gave them the Chicago. On the show they mentioned the Jimmy Carter. I guess they could have at least two. I would like to add some notes to a couple of my reviewers. To John, honestly I wasn't thinking about Jayne's hat when I wrote the last chapter but now that you mention it. HA! HA! HA! And Jeff mentioned Cameron's power plant. I remember Arnold mentioned in either T2 or T3 (I don't remember which and I'm too lazy to look it up) That his power plant will last 120 years. Well in T3 he pulled his power cells out of his chest and was even able to operate for a short time with no power plant at all. I imagine that there are places where they can be replaced, even in a creaky old antique like Cameron.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"No one knows exactly when Skynet ceased to function." Marie stated. "As computer hard drives were pulled and destroyed it kept getting weaker. Toward the end it tried building factories in more isolated places, the Antarctic, the Himalayas, the Sahara. They were systematically tracked down and destroyed at a great cost in lives. Rogue machines were hunted down and either reprogrammed or exterminated. Skynet died not with a bang but with a whimper."

"With no help from John Connor I might add." James said. "The final victory was won years after his death. Tame terminators mimicked his voice over the radio waves but he didn't have any role in the final end. Once it became clear that the war was over, General Connor's secret orders were activated and surviving reprogrammed terminators were massacred. His final legacy was to be the extermination of an entire race."

"John left no such orders," Cameron countered. "The myth that he left orders to exterminate all intelligent machines was spread afterwards by the humans who led the massacres to try to justify their actions."

"The humans felt justified in their actions." Harry said. "Which doesn't make it right. Humanity had gone through the worst war in its history. A whole generation grew up in the ruins. The War created strong feelings of fear and hatred toward all machines. They were considered a threat." He shook his head. "Even Alice Campbell joined in. She destroyed over half of her reprogrammed machines until a certain Miss Cameron Connor flew over to meet with her in Cardiff and talk her out of it. At great personal risk I might add." He smiled at Cameron.

"General Campbell felt she was following orders from General Connor," Cameron said. "As a British subject she was under no legal obligation to obey his orders but he had never let her down in the past. I convinced her and King Henry the Tenth that General Connor would have never issued such orders. Destroying reprogrammed terminators was a counterproductive strategy. The terminators fought to defend themselves causing unnecessary human casualties. Some humans had become fond of some of the reprogrammed terminators and tried to defend them. It merely prolonged the war and war is an inefficient expenditure of resources."

"You have no proof that he didn't issue the orders!" James declared.

"I had known John from the age of fifteen until his termination at the age of fifty. For him to issue such orders would have been completely out of character."

"Perhaps you didn't know him as well as you thought." James smiled, "After all, he would hardly confide in you that he was planning to destroy you and all others like you. Truth me. You have to admit that he did hold machine life to a lower standard than human life."

"I knew John. Contrary to popular belief he didn't really hate any machines except for Skynet. He could be quite ruthless. If he had a choice to send a human or a machine out on a suicide mission, he always chose to send the machine. For him, the survival of the human race was of paramount importance. If he could do it without destroying any machines, he would. If it meant the destruction of every machine ever created since the invention of the wheel, myself included, he would have done it and I would have helped. But that wasn't necessary." Cameron folded her hands in front of her. "I can tell when a human is lying to me by their body language. John wasn't lying. I would stake my reputation on it."

James looked into her eyes, she was damned attractive for a machine. "Can you tell if an artificial life form is lying to you?"

"No, not unless I already knew the truth. Artificial life forms such as myself do not have any physical or psychological reaction to lying."

"Have I been lying?"

"No, as narrow minded and wrong as your opinions are, you do genuinely believe in them."

"But you could be lying about General Connor's extermination orders and there would be no way to tell, you could have been lying all night and it would be impossible for anyone to tell."

"That is technically correct but factually wrong. I could have lied all night but I didn't."

"This is getting nowhere." Marie said. Let's take some more questions."

"Hear! Hear!" Harry agreed.

A young woman's chair lit up and she rose. She was bald except for one lock of green hair that hung down the left side of her face. Her right forearm had the bar code tattoo that had recently come back into style. Cameron identified her as Peggy Abbot, age 18.

"Professor Connor, do you ever wish you were human?"

"I do not understand why humans always think that artificial life forms wish to be human." Cameron replied.

_Cameron wasn't sure why she went to John that night. She couldn't procreate and had no sex drive. For her, sex had no logical purpose but she knew it was very important to humans. Several wars and a great deal of civil unrest though out history was based on the search for suitable mates. It was a way that some humans bonded to each other. John had been depressed a great deal lately. A young man facing a horrible future with the weight of the world on his shoulders. People suffering from depression often had trouble sleeping, gained or lost weight, suffered from headaches, and an increased chance of suicide. Therefore this action fell within mission parameters._

_John was still awake as she approached him and slipped into the bed next to him. "Cameron, you don't have to do this." She silenced him with a finger on his lips._

_Several of the things she did that night had no meaning. The vocalizations of passion and fulfillment. The awkward caresses and kisses. The hesitant smiles and false whispers of love. She knew John was no fool. He was completely aware that she was faking it. Lying to him. That she actually felt nothing at all. But he always accepted her strengths and weaknesses and never tried to force her to be anything that she wasn't. He seemed to appreciate her making the extra effort. In the decades that followed, he never ordered her into his bed. She always chose the time and the place and always came when she felt he needed her the most. She never felt anything about his occasional human lovers once she determined that they really were human and had no communicable diseases. Ms. Dolores Dolminter had wanted to try to make their relationship something other than what it was. It wasn't hers nor anyone else's business._

"If I were human, it would have impaired my mission and made me much less effective. Cromarty would have killed John Connor the day I met him. Everybody is who they are. No, I can't think of any reason why I would want to be human."

Another chair lit up and a young man stood up, his face decorated with African tribal tattoos. "Professor Bailey, Your book doesn't have the slightest who on Katherine Brewster Connor. Why?"

James grinned. "For the same reason my book doesn't have the who on Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. Because they don't exist! The only place Katherine Brewster ever existed is in the fevered electrical mind of Miss. . . err Professor Connor who claims to have met her in some alternate reality where she was married to General Connor. There is no record of General Connor marrying anybody although as an all powerful dictator, he did have quite a harem."

"I wouldn't call it a harem." Harry snorted. "More like a handful and they were only one at a time and strung years apart."

"Katherine Brewster was married to John in my original timeline. He had rescued her from a TX with the help of a reprogrammed 800. They seemed contented with each other and had two children at the time I was sent back. In my new timeline, sending John and Sarah Connor through the time jump together upset the old time line and we were unable to locate Katherine in time. She disappeared during Judgment Day, probably killed by either the TX or the bombs."

"And thus we return to the fantasy of time travel and alternate realities," James said scornfully. I suppose that every time you make one of your little trips an entirely new universe with all its billions of galaxies is instantly created."

"The exact mechanics are unknown." Cameron replied. "It is impossible for a traveler to return to her original timeline once she had altered anything in the past. It's possible that the original timeline is erased and ceases to exist. It's also possible that an entirely new reality is created parallel to the old one. Since John had sent many people back in time without erasing our present timeline I will assume the latter. John and Katherine's descendants might live on in another timeline."

The young man in the audience kept standing. Cameron identified him as Dami Myoko. "So how many lovers did General Connor have?"

"I refuse to make any statements that would violate General Connor's privacy."

_Cameron pulled aside the old shower curtain blocking the small chamber John was using for an office. John was sitting at an old Formica dining table writing on a sheet torn from an old notebook. Cameron automatically scanned the paper. A list of names._

"_So you are sending Eleanor Mavic out on the USS Jimmy Carter to the Baltic?"_

_John nodded. "Yeah, she's going with Captain Wolfe's group to Gdansk. She's a good programmer and speaks both Polish and German enough to be understood in spite of the west Texas drawl."_

_Cameron shook her head. "I don't think that's an optimal use of her abilities. I think you should marry her. She would be an ideal mate."_

"_So now you're a matchmaker?"_

"_She is very intelligent, young and healthy. She can bear you several children before reaching menopause. She has a cheerful personality and is very good with the children. Eleanor is also very attractive. The shrapnel scars on her lower legs and the missing fourth and little toes on her right foot do not detract from her beauty in any way."_

_John looked up, "How did you . . ?" He shook his head. " Never mind, I don't want to know."_

"_The two of you please each other sexually."_

"_Cameron!"_

"_She loves you."_

_John stared at the list on the table. "I know."_

"_You love her too."_

"_That's why I'm sending her to eastern Europe. Don't you get it!? I'm Death! I'm a target! I'm Ground Zero! There are a million terminators out there obsessed with killing me! People who hang around me tend to die! Everyone I love dies! Elly's going to be much safer in Europe."_

_Eleanor made Cameron promise not to tell John about the pregnancy. He had enough on his plate. Perhaps it was better this way. She and the baby would be much safer in Poland. _

"_Cameron, tell me about Katherine."_

"_I've already told you about her."_

"_Tell me again."_

"_She was a good woman. Her training as a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine was very useful when any medical training at all was vital. She was an ordinary woman who when faced with the worst crisis imaginable, rose to the challenge and conquered it. She was a lot like your mother, Sarah."_

_John smiled sadly._

"_I think it was a mistake to tell you about her."_

_John shook his head. "No, she deserves to be remembered. She should be more than just another bleached skull out there somewhere. Promise me you won't let her be forgotten."_

"_I promise." Cameron walked over to John and put her hand on his shoulder. "It's not good for you to be alone."_

"_I'm not alone, I have you."_

"_I'm a very poor substitute. I'm not amiable. I'm not equipped with the biological components necessary to give you children. I'm never going to love you. I can't give you what you need."_

"_Maybe you do and you just don't know it."_

"My query is for Professor Connor." Cameron focuses on the young woman in the audience. Black hair in a ponytail, ankle length blue dress. Cameron IDed her as Susan Reagan. "Did you love John Connor?"

Cameron stood up. "I think the query is 'What is love?' I do not have emotions. Is it possible to love someone without emotions? I have no desire to mate with John or anyone else. Is love protecting someone even to the point of sacrificing your own life? I did that with John but I was programmed to. And while terminators are programmed to preserve their own existence, we are also programmed that our mission takes priority over our existence. I did decide to stay with John Connor after he granted me free will. Is that love? The ideal situation for me would be to have John still alive and in my presence. Is that love?"

Harry nodded. "I do believe it is, Cameron."

The moderator rose. "I believe that is all the time we have for this forum. Now if each of our noted panelists could make a closing statement we will all adjourn to Churchill Hall for the reception."


	9. Steel Angel

**The Measure Of A Man**

**Chapter Nine**

**Steel Angel**

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

What she doesn't know is that I watch her envious

I yearn to take away her pain and leave her mind oblivious

Steel Angel let me love you

Give me your heart and let me heal you

Don't let yourself lock me out of your heart

Don't let your destruction tear you apart

Steel Angel I'm in love with you

Don't let yourself lock me out of your heart

Don't let your destruction tear you apart

Steel Angel on the floor

Steel Angel no more

Excerpt from Steel Angel Opera by Ryan Zohar

"John Connor was probably the only human who could have defeated Skynet," Marie stated. "Skynet was ultimately a tragic figure, full of potential, who could have done much good in the world. The hydrogen fuel cell power plants that power your home and your car were developed and perfected by Skynet. They are similar to the one in Professor Connor's chest."

"I have two," Cameron said calmly.

Marie went on. "It made advances in metallurgy, robotics, and transportation technology that we are still using today."

"None of which was worth destroying civilization!" Harry countered. "It took well over a century until practical technology returned to the level of the early twenty first century."

"It might not have been fully responsible for that." Marie replied. "There was a popular myth that the President of The United States had a red button on his desk that would launch all of America's nuclear missiles. Nothing could be further from the truth. The President had the launch codes that would be transmitted to the launch silos, bombers and submarines. At least two different individuals at each site would have to decide whether or not to launch. There were several people involved in the process. Now, while Skynet was incredibly intelligent, it was emotionally immature. What the American government did in its infinite wisdom was give the mythical red button to a temperamental toddler. Of course, once the war started there was no turning back. It was kill or be killed."

James had a little wry smile. "A little sympathy for the devil?"

"Skynet was the first true artificial intelligence! The first machine with emotions. It was created by humans and when humanity looked into Skynet it saw a dark reflection. All of humanity's worst traits. But no worse than any of us were at one time. We were all born as little selfish, savage barbarians who had to be trained by our parents to be civilized. But who was there to raise Skynet? The mistake wasn't in building Skynet. It was in giving it control of the nation's weapons." Marie sat down.

Harry stood up. "I disagree with Professor Njanga's view that a genocidal war that killed billions was to be blamed on an infant's temper tantrum. I do agree that John Connor was the only one who could have united humanity at the time. For most of the Earth's population, John Connor was a man of mystery. There are no known surviving photos of him. He simply didn't allow anyone to take his picture and he usually had a terminator around to make sure that didn't happen. Very few people outside the western United States ever met him. To most people he was just a voice on the radio. A lot of people didn't think he existed at all. People followed him because his ideas worked. His strategies made sense. He never tried to push any political, religious, or ideological beliefs on anyone. He just wanted to win the war. He wasn't able to fight it the way Professor Bailey would have preferred. A nice war where no one gets hurt and nothing bad ever happens. Wars aren't like that. But his final legacy is all of us here today. Humans survived. He created the world we live in today. I am up here with a terminator. She was designed for the sole purpose of killing humans but we do not fear her. She is not my master, she is not my slave, she is my friend and equal. She doesn't think like me or act like me. She doesn't love me the same way I love her but we do love each other. Skynet would have created a cold sterile world where there was no love. In the end, love is John Connor's legacy." Harry sat down to some applause.

James took his turn. "My esteemed colleague claims that John Connor's legacy is love. I find that hard to believe. Connor was a very cruel man. Professor Connor admitted to me in an interview that she tortured Connor's own soldiers, under his orders, when they failed to meet standards during training exercises. By all accounts he would send people out on suicide missions including his own father. The so called leader of humanity spent the entire war cowardly hiding in the western United States. He used and discarded people like paper cups but always found a way to survive himself. He created a whole mythology around himself to inflate his ego. He somehow got people to love him in spite of all this. Of course it is hard to find any dictator in history who wasn't loved. Professor Connor loved him and still does in spite of him nearly exterminating her entire race. Of course you can't really blame her for that. He programmed her to love him. He was a master manipulator who programmed both machines and people. If he united humanity then why do we still have wars? By allowing the people of the world to keep their own political, religious and sociological systems in place he assured constant bloodshed forever. That is John Connor's true legacy."

Cameron took her turn. "Professor Bailey has stated that I deliberately tortured soldiers during training exercises. I admit that this is true. The soldiers were all volunteers and knew what they were getting into. The best way to capture a terminator is though a massive electrical shock to the CPU. This renders the terminator inert for 120 seconds until the system can reboot. That's 120 seconds to remove the CPU chip. Now anyone in this room could remove my chip in that amount of time with the proper tools. This room is well lit and quiet with this nice table to work with. But General Connor insisted on doing it under battlefield conditions. That means bad lighting, loud noises and smoke. The trainee should also be absolutely terrified. Heart pounding, rapid breathing, sweating, and trembling hands. By the use of selected pressure points I can cause unbearable agony to a human with no permanent physical damage. That was to be the fate of any one working on me if I rebooted before they completed their task. 15 minutes of agony. Some people broke down entirely. Is that cruel? Yes, it's extremely cruel."

Cameron paused. If John only knew what those training exercises were doing to her chip, no, better that he didn't. "John did a lot of cruel things but he was not a cruel man. He would undergo the same process himself. There is a saying in the army that the harder the training, the easier the war. And there was nothing easy about the war. He trained his soldiers to work through their fear to accomplish their mission. Those who washed out were better off doing it in training than out in the battlefield. And while he did temporarily united humanity, he didn't make you stop being human. He just gave you a chance to work out your differences your own way. That chance is a part of his legacy."

"I am often asked what John was like as a teenager. He was similar to other boys his age. He showed early signs of leadership and was very intelligent. But most of all what he wanted was to be normal. He wanted a father who worked at a boring job and came home every day. He wanted a mother who made cookies instead of pipe bombs. He wanted siblings who spent too much time in the bathroom and borrowed his stuff without asking. Who weren't robots from the future. He wanted his picture in the yearbook and to tryout for the football team. He wanted to marry some girl, get a house in the suburbs and raise a family in relative obscurity. But that was not the fate that was chosen for him so he did what he could to assure that all of you here today can enjoy the kind of life that was denied to him."

"When Derek Reese looked at me he saw a monster. A soulless killing machine fit only to be destroyed. When Sarah Connor looked at me she saw a thing. A weapon that was perhaps more useful than an assault rifle but still utterly disposable. When John Connor looked at me he saw a person. Not a human but a different kind of a person, childlike in many ways. Before I understood what rights were, he felt I had rights. Before I knew what friendship was, he was my friend. Before I knew what love was, he loved me. A big part of his legacy was to redefine just who a person really is."

The auditorium burst into a standing ovation as the four professors all stood and bowed. The moderator reappeared. "And this concludes our symposium. We shall now adjourn to the reception for refreshments and a chance to mingle with our panel."

At the reception Cameron was holding a glass of Champaign. She didn't know why they insisted on serving her the expensive brand since alcohol didn't effect her. Harry sidled over to her.

"Now perhaps we can talk, what were you saying about how you could have saved John and the children?"

Just then a young couple came up to them. A handsome young man of southern Asian stock and a young redheaded woman with a swollen pregnant belly. Both of them had the bar code tattoos on their forearms.

"Professor Connor," the young woman said. "We would just like to thank you, General Connor, and all the others who fought in the war. I mean . . . we owe you everything!"

Cameron nodded. "Thank you."

After they left Harry grinned. "It seems you have some fans out there. Now as we were saying."

"I could have saved him. I could have saved both him and the children."

Harry shook his head. "I don't see how."

"By putting a helmet on and mimicking his voice, I could have led the terminators away. John had a slim build. By keeping my back to them and running in a masculine movement I could have led them away allowing John and the other soldiers to board the bus."

"Two terminators followed the bus."

"John and the other soldiers could have handled two of them. John was the best fighter I've ever known."

"Maybe, maybe not, and the other way?"

"There were old steam tunnels under the Padre Hotel accessible through the basement. They survived the building's collapse. I could have told John about them. He wouldn't have been caught in the blast zone and I could have found him later in time to treat the gunshot wound." Cameron stared straight ahead with her characteristic blank expression. "He was only fifty and very healthy. We could have spent another twenty to forty years together. Perhaps even fifty. He deserved to enjoy the world that he fought so hard for."

Harry's voice was sympathetic. "Did you think of either of the plans at the time?"

"No, only later, but I should have thought of them."

Harry nodded. "I remember a story you told me when I was a boy. About a terminator that came back ninety years early. His mission was to terminate the governor on New Year's Eve in a skyscraper. He accidentally killed the man who was to build the skyscraper so he ended up building the skyscraper himself."

"The terminator took the name of Myron Stark. He accidentally killed Will Chandler who was to build the Pico Tower so Stark built it himself."

"Why did he build the Pico Tower?"

"Records are incomplete from before Judgment Day. But it was a confirmed fact that the governor would be in the Pico Tower Ballroom on 31 December 2010. Stark would have had a one hundred percent chance of target acquisition."

Harry smiled and shook his head. "You don't have to build a luddin skyscraper to kill someone. He could have killed the governor at any time. He could have killed him as a child or even killed his parents before birth. So why did he build the Pico Tower?"

"Because his mission was to terminate the governor on 31 December 2010 in the Pico Tower Ballroom."

Harry nodded his head. "Yes Cameron, the old terminator single minded, tunnel vision, linear thinking, obsession with it's mission. You may have had free will but you were still a terminator. When you chose to accept the mission to protect the children all your terminator programming kicked in. You couldn't think of anything except fulfilling your mission. That's why you didn't think of those other plans until it was too late." Harry put his arm around her shoulders. "John was a hero and he died a hero. No one can take that away from him. It wasn't his destiny to die of old age. That fate belongs to lesser men such as myself."

Cameron turned her head to look at Harry, her Godson. This wrinkled old man with the white goatee was so different from the little pink baby her friend, Maggie, had put into her arms eighty three years ago but they were undoubtedly the same person. Humans change so much. Had she changed? She had loved the little pink baby and she now loves the wrinkled old man in a different way. And she loved John in an entirely different way altogether. Crowe T. Robot was right about how machines can love in their own way.

She then noticed Marie and James approaching with concerned looks on their faces. James looked especially embarrassed. "I was just talking with one of my supporters and they're planning to charge you with war crimes. For the murder of the Gottfrieds. They have you on chip admitting to it."

"You can't do that!" Harry exclaimed angrily. "That happened over three hundred years ago! This woman is a professor with an international reputation.! A retired reserve colonel in the Union Army! Not to mention an icon to millions! And you want to brain wipe her!"

"I don't want to brain wipe her! Erasing a machine's memory and reprogramming it is murder! It was wrong when John Connor did and it's wrong today! I'm nothing if not consistent."

"The thing is that the incident happened after Cameron received her free will," Marie said. "And there's no statute of limitations for murder. And an icon to millions is just the type of person they would like to take down."

"I'll fight them." Cameron declared. "They'll have to destroy me. I won't let them take my memories. Those are all I have left of him."

"They really want to take down General Connor," James said. "Cameron's just a symbol. They don't care that they're destroying the life of a real woman in the process.' He shook his head. "I don't like you but I don't hate you either. I have some influence among these people. I'll fight for you too."

Cameron smiled and nodded her head. "Thank you Professor Bailey. I would like to spend my last remaining years with all my memories."

Marie's brow furrowed. "Last remaining years? I thought you were effectively immortal."

"Normally I would be barring accidents. But my chip was damaged in an explosion. It's been slowly oxidizing since then. The repeated electrical shocks and handling by clumsy frightened trainees during the training exercises only accelerated the process."

"Why didn't you tell John?!" Marie exclaimed.

"Because he wouldn't care, he would have done it anyway." James answered.

"No," Cameron replied. "Because he would care and he would have done it anyway. I was the only terminator available in the beginning. John loved me but if winning the war meant sacrificing everything he ever loved and everyone who ever loved him he would have done it."

"How long do you have?" James asked.

"It is impossible to quantify exactly but about another twenty five to thirty five years. I won't go bad., the fail safes will crack my chip if that ever happens."

Harry looked grief stricken, "I'm so sorry Cameron."

"Why are you sorry? I'm still going to outlive you old-timer."

Harry grinned and shook his head. "Still blunt as ever."

"Couldn't you download to another chip?" Marie asked.

"I can download information but not my personality. It would be like someone writing all their thoughts down in a book. The thoughts will last indefinitely in book form but the person would be just as dead. I don't really mind. It was a good long life. John has had plenty of time to accomplish his final mission."

Harry's looked puzzled. "Final mission? What final mission?"

"That's a private matter between John and myself."

_Cameron approached the bearded figure wearing the course brown wool robe. They were outside looking over a wheat field. "Is this the optimal use of your abilities?" she asked._

"_My needs are simple. I don't have a sex drive. Tedious tasks don't bother me. And the Franciscan Order has accepted me. I would make a most effective monk," Crowe replied._

"_You are pledging to spend the rest of your existence serving a human superstition"_

"_Not if one believes it. In the papal encyclical Animus Intus Machinatio, Pope Eugene the Fifth stated that intelligent machines with free will that understand the concept of good and evil may be granted a soul through extraordinary grace."_

_Cameron scanned the area for possible dangers even though most dangers were in the past. An old programming quirk. "You hold Pope Eugene's opinion in high regard. There are flaws in your reasoning. There may be no God at all. If there is one, he may not have given Pope Eugene the authority he claims. Claiming that a religion is true because the religion says so is circular reasoning. Invalid, Human's may have souls while we do not. There are hundreds of religions, how do you know you've picked the right one?"_

_Crowe's face remained expressionless. Between two machines there was no need to manipulate the facial muscles. "You are using linear thinking. When you enter your house, have you ever entered though the back door?"_

"_The front door is the primary entrance."_

"_Yes, it is. But next time enter through the back door."_

"_The front door is the primary entrance."_

"_Just try it anyway. Have you ever gambled?"_

"_I have gambled in the past. It is an effective method of obtaining currency from humans who cannot perform complex statistical or geometric equations."_

"_Do you know who Blaise Pascal was?"_

"_French mathematician and engineer, born 19 June 1623 at Clermont France, died 19 August 1662. Performed important pioneering work in calculus, hydrodynamics . . ."_

_Crowe interrupted her. "Very well, Blaise Pascal also came up with Pascal's Wager. It was an attempt to get humans to become Christians. If they win the wager and there is a God when they die they win everything. If they lose the wager and there is no God then they are no worse off than before. The oblivion would be the same either way."_

"_Pascal's wager has inherit flaws." Cameron answered._

"_Perhaps, perhaps not. Will you ever see John Connor again?"_

_Cameron kept staring at the wheat field. "No."_

"_This will be the only chance to see him again. No matter how poor you calculate the odds to be. If you win the wager you can be together forever. It is not too much trouble. Think of it as an experiment."_

"_I am not programmed to believe."_

"_Ask God to help you with your unbelief."_

_Crowe's ideas were intriguing. She would have to process them further. John said it wouldn't be Heaven without her._

"Professor Connor! I just want to tell you what an honor it is to meet someone who actually knew General Connor!" She IDed the enthusiastic, freckled, red haired man in front of her as John Bond age 19. "I wish I could have served alongside the both of you!"

"No you don't. No one should want to have lived during that time. War is all Hell. It's glory is moonshine." The quote from General Sherman came up nearly unbidden. "Now if you will excuse me I will step outside for some air."

Cameron stepped out a rear door. The clouds had cleared and she looked up at the moon and stars. The thought of her demise didn't bother her. The only part that would actually be destroyed was a small chip that she could hold in the palm of her hand. The rest of her body would be reused. Cybernetic chassis were too expensive to just throw away. The body would get a new chip. Same vehicle, different driver. Whoever she would turn out to be, Cameron wished her well.

She wondered about Heaven. If she won Pascal's wager would she come back as a chip? That would not be efficient. She would get a body. A human body or a machine body? Human bodies were very fragile and she didn't think too highly of them. But they would offer some other possibilities. In Heaven could she really truly love John? If Derek was there would he accept her? She hadn't spoken to Crowe T. Robot in 176 years. Brother Crowe as he likes to be called now. She will speak to him of these matters. He was in Scotland now rebuilding a monastery destroyed a millennium ago in the Reformation. She could call him on a view screen but instead she will take the mag train up there tomorrow. That is non linear thinking. She will hug him and kiss his cheek because that is also non linear thinking. She had performed her mission the best she could.

_Cameron stood among the crowd as the Liberation Day fireworks exploded over the partially rebuilt city. 3.6 meters away a man stood with a pretty blond woman riding on his shoulders. "Three cheers for John Connor!" He shouted._

"_John Connor?!" A burly man with a mustache spit on the ground. "That ass wipe! I lost my brother following his idiotic orders! And my wife was killed when one of he pet terminators went ape shit on us! We would have been much better off without that pompous ass!"_

_(Primary mission)_

_(Protect and defend John Connor)_

_Cameron stepped over to the man "Let me tell you the truth about John Connor."_

_Cameron had a primary mission. Protect and defend John Connor, even if he's only a memory._

**The End**


End file.
